Information war: Iran and Israel try to control narrative

16:06
Issued on: Modified:
From the show
Media have been blamed for their handling of previous wars, like when American reporters did not press the US government about allegations of WMD's in Iraq or in the Balkans where journalists were accused of fueling tensions by selectively omitting or defusing certain information. As the war between Israel and Iran escalates, France 24's media show Scoop looks at coverage of the conflict. The guest is Mark Seddon, forrmer UN correspondent for Al Jazeera.

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France 24

5 hours ago

• France 24

Thousands protest in Tehran and the region against Israel

Images on Iran's state television showed protesters in Tehran holding up photographs of commanders killed since the start of the war, while others waved the flags of Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. "This is the Friday of the Iranian nation's solidarity and resistance across the country," the news anchor said. "I will sacrifice my life for my leader," read a protester's banner, referring to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. According to state television, protests took place in other cities around the country, including in Tabriz in northwestern Iran and Shiraz in the south. Last week, Israel launched a blistering attack on Iran, prompting Tehran to retaliate with barrages of missiles aimed at Israel. Mohammad Javad Haj Ali Akbari, the Imam leading Tehran's prayers, told worshippers that Israel had attacked Iran out of "despair", the official IRNA news agency reported. He accused Israel of launching a "psychological war" to "pit the people of the country against the government". "Their plans were precise, but their calculations were laughable," the Imam said. With warnings of all-out regional war intensifying, fears are growing over an intervention by Iran-backed Iraqi factions, who have threatened Washington's interests in the region if it were to join Israel in its war against Iran. 'No right' In Iraq, thousands of supporters of powerful cleric Moqtada Sadr rallied after Friday prayers in Baghdad and other cities, AFP correspondents said. Sadr, who has previously criticised Tehran-backed Iraqi armed factions, retains a devoted following of millions among Iraq's majority community of Shiite Muslims. "No to Israel! No to America!" chanted demonstrators gathered in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, the cleric's stronghold in the capital. "It is an unjust war... Israel has no right" to hit Iran, said protester Abu Hussein. "Israel is not in it for the (Iranian) nuclear (programme). What Israel and the Americans want is to dominate the Middle East," added the 54-year-old taxi driver. In the city of Kufa, protesters set fire to Israeli and American flags. Iraq is both a significant ally of Iran and a strategic partner of the United States. In Lebanon, hundreds of Hezbollah supporters took to the streets in the group's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs. Men, women and children waved the flags of Iran, Hezbollah and Lebanon, with some holding pictures of Khamenei. "It is my duty to stand with (Iran) against the Zionist Israeli enemy," said Adnan Zaytoun, 60. Hezbollah, which suffered heavy blows in its latest confrontation with Israel last year, has not expressed any intention to intervene militarily on Iran's side. To supporters like Zaytoun, '"if anyone attacks us, we will defend ourselves, but we do not support war." Fadel Saad, an 18-year-old student, "We are here to show the American and Israeli enemies that we are resilient and will not be defeated... even if they destroy our homes over our heads." In Yemen's capital Sanaa and other areas, tens of thousands of people gathered for protests organised by the Iran-backed Huthis, according to their official media outlets. © 2025 AFP

France 24

6 hours ago

• France 24

Gaza rescuers say Israeli forces kill 60, half near aid centres

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that five people were killed while waiting for aid in the southern Gaza Strip and 26 others near a central area known as the Netzarim corridor, an Israeli-controlled strip of land that bisects the Palestinian territory. Thousands of Palestinians have gathered there daily in the hope of receiving food rations, as famine looms across Gaza after more than 20 months of war. The Israeli army told AFP that its troops in the Netzarim area had first fired "warning shots" at "suspects" approaching them. When the individuals continued advancing, "an aircraft struck and eliminated the suspects in order to remove the threat," the army said. Similar incidents have occurred in that area regularly since late May, when the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation opened its distribution centres, as Israel eased a two-month aid blocakde. The privately run foundation's operations in Gaza have been marred by chaotic scenes. UN agencies and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with it over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives. Elsewhere in the territory on Friday, Bassal said 14 people were killed in two separate strikes in and around the central city of Deir el-Balah, and 13 others in three Israeli air strikes in the Gaza City area. One of those strikes, which killed three people, hit a phone charging station in the city, Bassal said. In southern Gaza, two people were killed "by Israeli gunfire" in two separate incidents, he added. Israeli restrictions on media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties in accessing some areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency. The armed wing of Palestinian miliant group, Al-Quds Brigades, said on Friday it had targeted an Israeli military post in the southern city of Khan Yunis, claiming "dead and wounded" Israeli troops as a result.

France 24

6 hours ago

• France 24

Information war: Iran and Israel try to control narrative

16:06 Issued on: Modified: From the show Media have been blamed for their handling of previous wars, like when American reporters did not press the US government about allegations of WMD's in Iraq or in the Balkans where journalists were accused of fueling tensions by selectively omitting or defusing certain information. As the war between Israel and Iran escalates, France 24's media show Scoop looks at coverage of the conflict. The guest is Mark Seddon, forrmer UN correspondent for Al Jazeera.