The onset of the problems coincided with a Sept. 6 Israeli air raid on Syria. Television signals began to deteriorate shortly afterward and on Sept. 12, Lebanon's Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh told local daily An Nahar that interference had "started with the aggressive Israeli infiltration on Syria."

But by Sept. 20, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, which also linked reception problems to the raid, reported "Syrian espionage activities on northern Israel using Russian experts" as a possible cause of the disruption.

A third theory emerged on Sept. 23 when satellite industry publication Rapid TV News cited reports that strong radar signals were being generated by "various intelligence elements, chiefly Western countries, which are trying to fathom the intentions of Israel and Syria in the near future."