Al-Manar first began terrestrial broadcasting from Beirut, Lebanon on 4 June 1991. By 2000, the station began broadcasting via satellite at a cost that was a couple of million dollars. The station was located in the predominantly Shi'a neighborhood of Haret Hreik in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the Hezbollah is also headquartered. Originally, the station employed only a few men that had studied media in London during the mid-1980s. But almost a year later, Al-Manar was employing over 150 people.