Fire Guts Hezbollah Warehouse Of Dolls For Use In Photos Of Bombed-Out Ruins

Hezbollah has staff dedicated to setting up and creating such photographs, then getting internationally trusted news outlets to carry them.

Beirut, December 21 – A suspicious blaze struck a facility in the Lebanese capital yesterday where the Iran-backed Shiite militia that in effect governs the country keeps most of the children’s toys and stuffed animals that it places at sites hit by IAF air strikes before allowing international media to take pictures, a spokesman for the group disclosed today.

Bali Oud told reporters that authorities consider the fire that hit a Hezbollah-owned storage depot Monday night to have started because of human activity, and have so far ruled out an electric origin, gas leaks, or, as in the case of the disastrous explosion in Beirut’s port two years ago, negligent accumulation of explosive nitrates. The remaining plausible scenarios, he remarked, involve a sabotage operation to deprive the organization of propaganda resources useful in creating an emotionally-resonant photograph to deploy in the cognitive war against the Zionist Entity to the south.

“We know exactly who would stand to benefit from the destruction of our inventory of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, baby, and numerous other dolls, along with a smattering of other toys for small children,” Oud insisted. “We know our enemy has developed numerous nefarious skills and continues his wicked attempts to undermine the Resistance. At this point, we consider the damning evidence strong enough to point to a Zionist operation, if only because no more prosaic cause has presented itself to investigators, so, yeah, obviously Israel.”

Islamist propagandists and their enablers in mainstream media organizations have long relied on fabricating or manipulating images to tug at the heartstrings so as to generate sympathy for targets of Israeli strikes – usually in retaliation for attacks on Israel, or to neutralize anticipated attacks – and to paint Israel as a brutal aggressor. Few such techniques can rival the presence of a forlorn children’s toy in the foreground of a scene depicting a bombed-our building or neighborhood; Hezbollah has staff dedicated to setting up and creating such photographs, then getting internationally trusted news outlets to carry them.

“It’s an efficient way to pack the right emotional punch,” explained media analyst Winston Smith. “It’s also a tad more subtle than some of the other work pro-Hezbollah stringers have done. For example, one such photographer got canned by his Western bosses when they discovered he’d ‘enhanced’ his photos of Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets to feature more smoke than was actually present, to add drama and make the photo more worthy of attention. Hamas folks have copied the dolls-in-the-ruins contrivance, not so much the extra-smoke photoshopping.”

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