From the Liveblog of
Saturday, May 2, 2026
Hezbollah slams Lebanese TV outlet for ‘Angry Birds’ clip making fun of group’s leader
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleHezbollah issues a public rebuke of a video published by a Lebanese TV outlet caricaturing Hezbollah’s leaders and fighters as characters from the “Angry Birds” mobile phone games, calling the clip “offensive.”
On social media, Hezbollah’s supporters condemn what they consider the ridiculing of leader Naim Qassem, who is also a Shia cleric, with some reacting by sharing images insulting Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai, the highest Christian authority in Lebanon.
The video, shared by the LBCI channel yesterday, depicts Qassem addressing his fighters — with all of them depicted as birds from the popular video games — as they fight the Israeli army, portrayed as the series’ green pigs.
بين الغضب والمكر، يشتعل الصراع#LBCINews @BBchannellb pic.twitter.com/W2K0OTi1oY
— LBCI Lebanon News (@LBCI_NEWS) May 1, 2026
Hezbollah says in a statement that the video contained “offensive and cheap insults that degrade political discourse to a repulsive level.”
The group also calls on supporters not to be “drawn into” the controversy “orchestrated by the enemies of the resistance.”
LBCI was founded in the 1980s by the Lebanese Forces, a Christian party opposed to Hezbollah. However, the channel distanced itself from the party years ago and has been trying to present a more independent image since.
“Before our holy symbols and our sheikh (Qassem), all holy symbols fall,” one Hezbollah supporter writes on X, referring to Maronite Patriarch Rai.
President Joseph Aoun in a statement “condemned and rejected any attacks on the heads of Christian and Muslim religious communities and spiritual figures in Lebanon.”
He also urges the public “to refrain from personal insults, given the negative repercussions of such practices, especially in the current circumstances the country is going through, which require broad national solidarity”.
Despite the relative freedom of expression enjoyed in Lebanon in comparison to other Arab countries, the media, artists and comedians have faced harassment over work deemed by some to be offensive to political or religious figures.
The Times of Israel Community.