Elaph

A mysterious source of propaganda

Did you know that, “according to Baabda palace sources”, President Lahhoud is trying to make deals with the Americans? Did you know that he’s offering to resign in return of being left out of the Mehlis clenches? Did you know that André Lahhoud, the President’s wife, has begun packing for a “long stay outside of the palace”?

Unless you watch Future TV or read Almustaqbal newspaper, both Hariri-owned media, you won’t. The “source” Future TV is using is a website called elaph. What kind of website is it?

The Beirut Spring did a bit of research and It smells something fishy. Elaph describes itself as “The first Arab online newspaper”, yet it has surprisingly no information whatsoever about its editorial board, where it is based, contact information…etc

Still, Elaph seems to command a certain amount of authority. According to Alexa, a web ranking service from Amazon, it ranks 1337 in the world. Much better than, say, Naharnet (12,890), but much less than Aljazeera (275). It is used as a source of news from newspapers like “The Daily Star” , “Alshark al Awsat” and TV stations like Future TV (and sometimes LBCI). Ha’aretz says that it’s Saudi funded, but it’s odd that this is not written anywhere on the actual website. (Please point it out in case you do find it)

Yesterday, President Lahhoud has officially attacked Elaph and Future TV.
Elaph’s response to him, written by a certain Fida Itani, shows that Elaph has a clear political direction, one that is not very far from the Hariri-Saudi alliance.