From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's on the media. I'm Brooke Ladstone. And I'm Bob Garfield.

Last weekend in Tripoli, a raid on the hideout of suspected bank robbers turned into a week-long battle between Islamist militants and the Lebanese army.

It occurred mostly on the outskirts of the Palestinian refugee camp where the militants are based,

and the army is not permitted to enter.

Dozens of combatants and civilians have been killed.

The militant group is called Fata al-Islam founded last year as an offshoot of a Syrian-backed Palestinian faction.

That much we know, but as is so often the case in the land of Cedars, the rest of the

who, what, and why of this story is murky. The Lebanese government says that Syria is behind

the militants and that Damascus timed the assault to coincide with the Security Council's

deliberations on a tribunal for the assassins of former Lebanese Prime Minister

Rafiq Hariri. But Fatah al-Islam denies any connection to Syria. We called Habib Batah, managing

editor of the Journal of Middle East Broadcasters in Beirut, to find out how the story is

being told on Lebanese TV. Habib, welcome to On the Media.

Thanks very much.

So the Lebanese government has been insisting all along that Fatah al-Islam is backed by Syria.

Is this account being picked up by the TV stations you've been watching?

It depends on which channel you're watching because the Lebanese TV is dominated by political parties.

Now, the Syrian connection is very controversial here.

Some channels will just go ahead and play that, which plays into the pro-American government of Lebanon.

On the channels that are supportive of Hasbullah and other Lebanese opposition channels,

you won't see that claim played up so much. So, you know, you really have to watch all the Lebanese opposition channels, you won't see that claim played up so much.

So, you know, you really have to watch all the Lebanese channels to get all the points of view,

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