until the israeli withdrawal from south lebanon, al-manar's programming political focus was mainly against the israeli presence in lebanon. while the withdrawal in may 2000 left a void in the station's programming, hezbollah and a-manar consider the shebaa farms to be lebanese territory occupied by israel, and this became a focal point for political programming. in september of that year, the al-aqsa intifada broke out, and al-manar began to cover the issue of the israeli–palestinian conflict more extensively, overtly propagandizing to support the palestinian militants.