BEIRUT: There was uproar in Lebanon on Thursday after Kuwaiti media writer and producer Fajer Al-Saeed was prevented from entering the country.
Al-Saeed was stopped at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport on Wednesday evening, with Lebanon’s General Security rejecting a request from Kuwaiti Embassy officials to allow her to spend the night there before leaving on the first flight to Kuwait.
Instead, she was deported back to her country on Thursday morning after spending the night at the airport.
Al-Saeed had flown to Lebanon to shoot an episode for the “We Want the Truth” program on the Sawt Beirut International e-platform.
However, she claimed she was detained at the General Security checkpoint over a “name similarity issue” before being told a permanent deportation order had been issued against her, banning her from entering the country.
In 2021, the Arab League designated Beirut as the Capital of Arab Media for 2023 as a symbol of solidarity with the city following the devastating port explosion.
Joseph Al-Kosseifi, head of the Lebanese Press Editors’ Syndicate, told Arab News: “We are against obstructing the work of any journalist in Lebanon — whether Lebanese or visiting from abroad.
“What happened requires clarification. Some claim that Al-Saeed was prevented from entering Lebanon due to an Israeli stamp on her passport, while others argue that her bold stance against Hezbollah was the reason.
“I will refrain from engaging in political disputes, but our position is clear. We oppose the prevention of any journalist or media professional from carrying out their professional duties.”
In a statement, the Progressive Socialist Party claimed the ban was “based solely on her political positions and opinions.”
It added: “Such condemned behavior strikes at the core of Lebanon, which is built on freedoms, diversity, and respect for the press and journalists, regardless of whether they are Lebanese or foreigners.”
Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces party, described the ban as a “police action without any legal justification.”
He said: “It undermines everything that Lebanon stands for in terms of civilization, culture, and media, and it reflects a complete disregard for Lebanon’s Arab relationships.
“Kuwait has always been a source of support, assistance, and friendship to Lebanon in various fields, particularly in the development projects implemented by the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, which have surpassed what the Lebanese state has achieved in some areas.
“Is this how we repay our friends? It seems that the only reason for preventing this independent-minded journalist from entering Lebanon lies in her clear and transparent positions toward the axis of resistance. Has Lebanon transformed into another North Korea?”
Al-Saeed noted that the decision to block her entry may have been based on her stance regarding Hezbollah, expressed during a television interview in Lebanon in November.
She said: “I respect Lebanon’s laws, just as I respect the laws of my own country and any other country. If there is a decision to prevent me from traveling, let me leave.”
Al-Saeed revealed that she could not call the Kuwait Embassy until an officer gave her his phone which she used to send a tweet about what was happening.
She said: “I have been at Beirut airport for five hours, and I don’t know the reason. They told me that I am banned from entering the country. Thank you, Lebanon.”
On hearing the news of her detention, the acting Kuwaiti charge d’affaires headed to the airport with other embassy staff and suggested Al-Saeed wait at the embassy until the matter was clarified. But General Security declined the offer.
“They informed me that I was being detained. I want to emphasize that I respect the laws of every country. If you don’t want me, I won’t impose myself on anyone.
“However, that does not mean I don’t love the Lebanese people. You are aware of Lebanon’s circumstances and the decision-makers there, and this is purely a political matter.
“I have not committed any crimes. These are my political opinions, and perhaps some individuals have become sensitive to them and cannot tolerate differing viewpoints.
“We understand their sensitivity. These people break my heart; the ones who stand for what is right are the strong ones,” Al-Saeed added.
She thanked the General Security officers for treating her with respect and acknowledged the challenging working conditions they faced.
Al-Saeed said: “This is the current situation in this country. But I want to ask those who prevented me from entering Lebanon: Can they prevent my voice from reaching the Lebanese people?”
In a statement, the General Directorate of General Security claimed an examination of Al-Saeed’s documents on her arrival at the airport had revealed there to be an existing order prohibiting her entry.
“The procedures for entry and residence in Lebanon for Arabs and foreigners are solely under the jurisdiction of the directorate, in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations.
“Those with concerns can approach the directorate, either in person or through representation, to request a review of any decision made, provided they present relevant data and documents that warrant reconsideration,” the statement said.
MP Ghayath Yazbeck said, “the state and the colluding system” had “labeled advocates of free speech as enemies.” Apologizing to Al-Saeed over her treatment, he added: “This is not our airport, and this is not how we welcome our people and friends.”
Uproar as Kuwaiti media writer prevented from entering Lebanon
https://arab.news/jdq35
Uproar as Kuwaiti media writer prevented from entering Lebanon
- Press Editors’ Syndicate, Progressive Socialist Party hit out at ban on Fajer Al-Saeed after Beirut airport ordeal
- Lebanese Forces party leader questions if country has become ‘another North Korea’
BBC rolls out paid subscriptions for US users
- US visitors will have to pay $49.99 per year or $8.99 per month for unlimited access to news articles, feature stories, and a 24-hour livestream of its news programs
- Move is part of broadcaster’s efforts to explore new revenue streams amid negotiations with the British government over its funding
LONDON: The BBC is rolling out paid subscriptions in the United States, it said on Thursday, as the publicly-funded broadcaster explores new revenue streams amid negotiations with the British government over its funding.
The BBC has in recent years seen a fall in the number of people paying the license fee, a charge of 174.50 pounds ($239.76) a year levied on all households who watch live TV, as viewers have turned to more content online.
From Thursday, frequent US visitors to the BBC’s news website will have to pay $49.99 per year or $8.99 per month for unlimited access to news articles, feature stories, and a 24-hour livestream of its news programs.
While its services will remain free to British users as part of its public service remit, its news website operates commercially and reaches 139 million users worldwide, including nearly 60 million in the US
The new pay model uses an engagement-based system, the corporation said in a statement, allowing casual readers to access free content.
“Over the next few months, as we test and learn more about audience needs and habits, additional long-form factual content will be added to the offer for paying users,” said Rebecca Glashow, CEO of BBC Global Media & Streaming.
The British government said last November it would review the BBC’s Royal Charter, which sets out the broadcaster’s terms and funding model, with the aim of ensuring a sustainable and fair system beyond 2027.
To give the corporation financial certainty up to then, the government said it was committed to keeping the license in its current form and would lift the fee in line with inflation.
Israeli minister walks back claim of antisemitism after clash with Piers Morgan
- Israel’s Minister Amichai Chikli accused Morgan in a previous social media post of ‘sharp and troubling descent into overt antisemitism’
- Following heated interview, Chikli later denied ever calling Morgan antisemitic, despite earlier post
LONDON: Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli has denied accusing British broadcaster Piers Morgan of antisemitism following a heated exchange during a recent episode of “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” despite a post on his official X account that said Morgan’s rhetoric marked “a sharp and troubling descent into overt antisemitism.”
The confrontation aired on Tuesday during an episode focused on Israel’s escalating conflicts with Iran and Hamas and featured appearances from both Chikli and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Tensions erupted as Morgan repeatedly pressed Chikli to explain his public accusations.
“You did, you implied it,” Morgan said, adding that Chikli’s accusations led to “thousands of people calling me antisemitic and (a) Jew-hater” on social media. He demanded evidence, ultimately calling the minister “pathetic” and “an embarrassment” when none was offered.
"Absolute categorical weapons-grade nonsense!"
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) June 23, 2025
Piers Morgan blasts Minister of Diaspora Affairs in Israel Amichai Chikli for saying he platforms holocaust deniers.
https://t.co/AO5YsXcBkq@piersmorgan | @AmichaiChikli pic.twitter.com/IiXmRk7wbC
The row stemmed from a June 4 post by Chikli, who shared a clip of a prior interview between Morgan and British barrister Jonathan Hausdorff, a member of the pro-Israel group UK Lawyers for Israel.
In the post, viewed over 1.3 million times by the time of Tuesday’s broadcast, Chikli claimed Morgan had hosted “every Israel hater he can find” and treated Hausdorff with “vile condescension and bullying arrogance — revealing his true face, one he had long tried to conceal.”
The post also referenced an unverified claim by American commentator Tucker Carlson that Morgan had said he “hates Israel with every fiber of his being” — a statement Morgan has firmly denied.
During Tuesday’s interview, Morgan challenged Chikli to cite a single antisemitic remark or action.
“Is it because I dare to criticize Israeli actions in Gaza?” Morgan told Chikli.
I’ve been following @piersmorgan’s interviews since the beginning of the war. From the outset, it was clear that, like most Western media, his basic inclination was pro-Palestinian — but he appeared to maintain a relatively fair and balanced line.
— עמיחי שיקלי - Amichai Chikli (@AmichaiChikli) June 4, 2025
Since then, however, I’ve… https://t.co/OvBtQsoYoE
According to Israeli outlet Haaretz, Chikli later denied ever calling Morgan antisemitic, despite his earlier post.
The episode reflects Morgan’s shifting stance on the war in Gaza. Once a vocal supporter of Israel’s right to self-defense in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks, Morgan has since adopted a more critical view as the civilian toll in Gaza has mounted and international outrage has grown.
The show has become a flashpoint for debate since the conflict began, hosting polarizing guests from both sides, including controversial American Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a staunch defender of Israel, and influencer Dan Bilzerian, who has faced accusations of Holocaust denial.
Chikli, meanwhile, has faced criticism for blurring the lines between genuine antisemitism and political criticism of Israel. He recently sparked controversy by inviting members of far-right European parties — some with antisemitic histories — to a conference on antisemitism in Jerusalem, raising questions about his credibility.
Iraq arrests commentator over online post on Iran-Israel war
- Iraqi forces arrested Abbas Al-Ardawi for sharing content online that included incitement intended to insult and defame the security institution
BAGHDAD: Iraqi authorities said they arrested a political commentator on Wednesday over a post alleging that a military radar system struck by a drone had been used to help Israel in its war against Iran.
After a court issued a warrant, the defense ministry said that Iraqi forces arrested Abbas Al-Ardawi for sharing content online that included “incitement intended to insult and defame the security institution.”
In a post on X, which was later deleted but has circulated on social media as a screenshot, Ardawi told his more than 90,000 followers that “a French radar in the Taji base served the Israeli aggression” and was eliminated.
Early Tuesday, hours before a ceasefire ended the 12-day Iran-Israel war, unidentified drones struck radar systems at two military bases in Taji, north of Baghdad, and in southern Iraq, officials have said.
The Taji base hosted US troops several years ago and was a frequent target of rocket attacks.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the latest drone attacks, which also struck radar systems at the Imam Ali air base in Dhi Qar province.
A source close to Iran-backed groups in Iraq told AFP that the armed factions have nothing to do with the attacks.
Ardawi is seen as a supporter of Iran-aligned armed groups who had launched attack US forces in the region in the past, and of the pro-Tehran Coordination Framework, a powerful political coalition that holds a parliamentary majority.
The Iraqi defense ministry said that Ardawi’s arrest was made on the instructions of the prime minister, who also serves as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, “not to show leniency toward anyone who endangers the security and stability of the country.”
It added that while “the freedom of expression is a guaranteed right... it is restricted based on national security and the country’s top interests.”
Iran-backed groups have criticized US deployment in Iraq as part of an anti-jihadist coalition, saying the American forces allowed Israel to use Iraq’s airspace.
The US-led coalition also includes French troops, who have been training Iraqi forces. There is no known French deployment at the Taji base.
The Iran-Israel war had forced Baghdad to close its airspace, before reopening on Tuesday shortly after US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire.
Grok shows ‘flaws’ in fact-checking Israel-Iran war: study
- “Grok demonstrated that it struggles with verifying already-confirmed facts, analyzing fake visuals, and avoiding unsubstantiated claims”
WASHINGTON: Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok produced inaccurate and contradictory responses when users sought to fact-check the Israel-Iran conflict, a study said Tuesday, raising fresh doubts about its reliability as a debunking tool.
With tech platforms reducing their reliance on human fact-checkers, users are increasingly utilizing AI-powered chatbots — including xAI’s Grok — in search of reliable information, but their responses are often themselves prone to misinformation.
“The investigation into Grok’s performance during the first days of the Israel-Iran conflict exposes significant flaws and limitations in the AI chatbot’s ability to provide accurate, reliable, and consistent information during times of crisis,” said the study from the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) of the Atlantic Council, an American think tank.
“Grok demonstrated that it struggles with verifying already-confirmed facts, analyzing fake visuals, and avoiding unsubstantiated claims.”
The DFRLab analyzed around 130,000 posts in various languages on the platform X, where the AI assistant is built in, to find that Grok was “struggling to authenticate AI-generated media.”
Following Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Israel, Grok offered vastly different responses to similar prompts about an AI-generated video of a destroyed airport that amassed millions of views on X, the study found.
It oscillated — sometimes within the same minute — between denying the airport’s destruction and confirming it had been damaged by strikes, the study said.
In some responses, Grok cited the a missile launched by Yemeni rebels as the source of the damage. In others, it wrongly identified the AI-generated airport as one in Beirut, Gaza, or Tehran.
When users shared another AI-generated video depicting buildings collapsing after an alleged Iranian strike on Tel Aviv, Grok responded that it appeared to be real, the study said.
The Israel-Iran conflict, which led to US air strikes against Tehran’s nuclear program over the weekend, has churned out an avalanche of online misinformation including AI-generated videos and war visuals recycled from other conflicts.
AI chatbots also amplified falsehoods.
As the Israel-Iran war intensified, false claims spread across social media that China had dispatched military cargo planes to Tehran to offer its support.
When users asked the AI-operated X accounts of AI companies Perplexity and Grok about its validity, both wrongly responded that the claims were true, according to disinformation watchdog NewsGuard.
Researchers say Grok has previously made errors verifying information related to crises such as the recent India-Pakistan conflict and anti-immigration protests in Los Angeles.
Last month, Grok was under renewed scrutiny for inserting “white genocide” in South Africa, a far-right conspiracy theory, into unrelated queries.
Musk’s startup xAI blamed an “unauthorized modification” for the unsolicited response.
Musk, a South African-born billionaire, has previously peddled the unfounded claim that South Africa’s leaders were “openly pushing for genocide” of white people.
Musk himself blasted Grok after it cited Media Matters — a liberal media watchdog he has targeted in multiple lawsuits — as a source in some of its responses about misinformation.
“Shame on you, Grok,” Musk wrote on X. “Your sourcing is terrible.”
Tech-fueled misinformation distorts Iran-Israel fighting
- It is no surprise that as generative-AI tools continue to improve in photo-realism, they are being misused to spread misinformation
WASHINGTON: AI deepfakes, video game footage passed off as real combat, and chatbot-generated falsehoods — such tech-enabled misinformation is distorting the Israel-Iran conflict, fueling a war of narratives across social media.
The information warfare unfolding alongside ground combat — sparked by Israel’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and military leadership — underscores a digital crisis in the age of rapidly advancing AI tools that have blurred the lines between truth and fabrication.
The surge in wartime misinformation has exposed an urgent need for stronger detection tools, experts say, as major tech platforms have largely weakened safeguards by scaling back content moderation and reducing reliance on human fact-checkers.
After Iran struck Israel with barrages of missiles last week, AI-generated videos falsely claimed to show damage inflicted on Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Airport.
The videos were widely shared across Facebook, Instagram and X.
Using a reverse image search, AFP’s fact-checkers found that the clips were originally posted by a TikTok account that produces AI-generated content.
There has been a “surge in generative AI misinformation, specifically related to the Iran-Israel conflict,” Ken Jon Miyachi, founder of the Austin-based firm BitMindAI, told AFP.
“These tools are being leveraged to manipulate public perception, often amplifying divisive or misleading narratives with unprecedented scale and sophistication.”
GetReal Security, a US company focused on detecting manipulated media including AI deepfakes, also identified a wave of fabricated videos related to the Israel-Iran conflict.
The company linked the visually compelling videos — depicting apocalyptic scenes of war-damaged Israeli aircraft and buildings as well as Iranian missiles mounted on a trailer — to Google’s Veo 3 AI generator, known for hyper-realistic visuals.
The Veo watermark is visible at the bottom of an online video posted by the news outlet Tehran Times, which claims to show “the moment an Iranian missile” struck Tel Aviv.
“It is no surprise that as generative-AI tools continue to improve in photo-realism, they are being misused to spread misinformation and sow confusion,” said Hany Farid, the co-founder of GetReal Security and a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Farid offered one tip to spot such deepfakes: the Veo 3 videos were normally eight seconds in length or a combination of clips of a similar duration.
“This eight-second limit obviously doesn’t prove a video is fake, but should be a good reason to give you pause and fact-check before you re-share,” he said.
The falsehoods are not confined to social media.
Disinformation watchdog NewsGuard has identified 51 websites that have advanced more than a dozen false claims — ranging from AI-generated photos purporting to show mass destruction in Tel Aviv to fabricated reports of Iran capturing Israeli pilots.
Sources spreading these false narratives include Iranian military-linked Telegram channels and state media sources affiliated with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, NewsGuard said.
“We’re seeing a flood of false claims and ordinary Iranians appear to be the core targeted audience,” McKenzie Sadeghi, a researcher with NewsGuard, told AFP.
Sadeghi described Iranian citizens as “trapped in a sealed information environment,” where state media outlets dominate in a chaotic attempt to “control the narrative.”
Iran itself claimed to be a victim of tech manipulation, with local media reporting that Israel briefly hacked a state television broadcast, airing footage of women’s protests and urging people to take to the streets.
Adding to the information chaos were online clips lifted from war-themed video games.
AFP’s fact-checkers identified one such clip posted on X, which falsely claimed to show an Israeli jet being shot down by Iran. The footage bore striking similarities to the military simulation game Arma 3.
Israel’s military has rejected Iranian media reports claiming its fighter jets were downed over Iran as “fake news.”
Chatbots such as xAI’s Grok, which online users are increasingly turning to for instant fact-checking, falsely identified some of the manipulated visuals as real, researchers said.
“This highlights a broader crisis in today’s online information landscape: the erosion of trust in digital content,” BitMindAI’s Miyachi said.
“There is an urgent need for better detection tools, media literacy, and platform accountability to safeguard the integrity of public discourse.”
