On April 18th the BBC News website published a report by BBC Arabic correspondent Carine Torbey titled “BBC reports from Lebanese border town as residents try to return home”, the synopsis to which states:

“BBC Arabic’s correspondent Carine Torbey reports from the border town of Khiam, as the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon goes into its second day.

The Lebanese army has set up a barrier to stop residents from returning to their homes in Khiam, after loud explosions continued to be heard in towns that are partly under Israeli occupation.

On Friday, the Lebanese President, Joseph Aoun, declared his country was entering a new phase which could transform the temporary ceasefire into a permanent peace settlement.”

Viewers of that report are not told why the town of Khiam (also Al-Khiyam) was chosen as the location for Torbey’s report or whether the BBC arrived there as part of an organised media tour. Coincidentally or not, an Al Jazeera journalist also reported from the same spot on the same day.

Torbey opens her report by telling viewers that: [emphasis in italics in the original, emphasis in bold added]

Torbey: “This is one of the main entrances to Khiam. It’s a border town between Lebanon and Israel that saw very heavy fighting throughout the 45-day war between Hizballah and Israel as the Israeli army was trying to advance into it and to occupy it. At the moment, the Lebanese army is erecting this barrier to stop the residents from going back into the town as it is still partly under Israeli occupation.”

Notably, Torbey refrains from reminding viewers that what she describes as “the 45-day war between Hizballah and Israel” began on March 2nd when the terrorist organisation chose to attack Israel in support of its Iranian patron. Neither does she clarify that a sovereign state has the right to defend itself from armed attacks, preferring instead to promote the notion of “occupation”.

Equally notable is the fact that Torbey has nothing whatsoever to tell BBC audiences about the exact location (about 6 kms from the border) and strategic importance of Khiam or the fact that it is a Shi’ite majority town that has functioned as a Hizballah base for decades. As was reported at the Jerusalem Post last month:

“The town of El-Khiam is located on elevated terrain, allowing direct observation and line-of-sight fire toward Kiryat Shmona, Metula, and communities along the Ramim Ridge.

Its elevation enables Hezbollah anti-tank squads and snipers to operate with maximum effectiveness against IDF troops and Israeli civilians inside Israeli territory. This is precisely the type of threat the IDF seeks to prevent by creating a defensive buffer against Hezbollah attacks.

In addition, El-Khiam is a strategic point that controls the main traffic routes in southern Lebanon. Due to the town’s location and terrain, Hezbollah commanders in Lebanon chose to build underground infrastructure, bunkers that would be able to deal with air attacks, weapons depots, and headquarters next to the homes of civilians who are supposed to serve as human shields, some of whom are paid.

It is important to note that, due to its size, the town has functioned as a “launch hub,” where operatives arrive, equip themselves with weapons and military gear, and depart on missions against IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians.”

Failing to provide that important context, Torbey continues:

Torbey: “But this town and other towns in the area have seen very intense explosions yesterday and the sound of these explosions were heard in large parts around it. And they are believed to be coming from detonations carried out by the Israeli army to houses and structures inside those villages.”

Once again essential context is missing from Torbey’s account. She has nothing to tell BBC audiences about the Hizballah weapons stash and combat complex found (not for the first time) in tunnels in the grounds of a church in Khiam late last month.

“As part of ground operations, an active underground combat complex of Hezbollah was located within a church compound in the village of al-Khiam. This site was first identified in December 2024 and cleared, but recent searches uncovered three additional shafts that were constructed during the ceasefire period.”

Neither does Torbey tell her viewers about the discovery of a large weapons cache belonging to the Hizballah-allied Amal Movement in a school in the same town.

Obviously such background information, including more recent discoveries of weapons and a Hizballah command centre in Khiam, is relevant not only to Torbey’s account of “very intense explosions” but also to the broader context of the January 2026 claim from the Lebanese armed forces – which was at the time amplified by BBC journalists including Torbey herself – that it had cleared the area south of the Litani river of “non-state weapons”.

With no mention of UN SC resolution 1701 – or UNIFIL’s two-decade failure to implement it – Torbey continues:

Torbey: “Parts of the normal life are coming back to the south of Lebanon – or to parts of the south of Lebanon – after the ceasefire came into effect and as part of this, the UNIFIL – the UN peacekeeping forces inside Lebanon – has resumed its patrols in parts of the south. It had stopped due to the hostilities in the past weeks.”

Torbey closes her report with a reference to a televised speech made by the Lebanese president the previous day.

Torbey: “On the political level, there is still very strong division about the way ahead and this division came to light yesterday after the Lebanese president has announced that he is ready to go whatever is necessary to liberate the land and to protect the people. Of course he was alluding to some sort of a direct negotiations with Israel and this is a very deeply divisive subject in the country.”

Remarkably, Torbey – who only utters the word Hizballah once in her entire report – has nothing to tell BBC audiences about the terrorist organisation’s rejection of Lebanon’s direct negotiations with Israel or the threats towards the Lebanese president and government from Hizballah officials including Hassan Fadlallah, Mahmoud Qamati and Nawaf Moussawi that have been voiced both before and since the ceasefire came into effect.

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