Pro-Iran protesters storm Saudi TV channel in Iraq after report calls slain Hamas, Hezbollah leaders ‘terrorists’

Supporters of pro-Iran armed groups in Iraq ransacked offices affiliated with a Saudi TV channel in Baghdad early this morning, according to two security sources, after the broadcaster aired a report referring to Tehran-backed groups Hamas and Hezbollah as “terrorists.”

Between 400 and 500 people reportedly attacked the studios of a production company in Baghdad that works for the Saudi broadcaster MBC after midnight.

“They wrecked the electronic equipment, the computers, and set fire to a part of the building,” an Iraqi interior ministry source tells AFP on condition of anonymity.

He says the fire has been extinguished and the crowd dispersed by police.

اقتحم العراقيون المكتب الرئيسي ل MBC في بغداد بعد أن وصفت محطة التلفزيون السعودية قادة المقاومة الفلسطينية بأنهم إرهابيون.
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— Dr.Sam Youssef Ph.D.,M.Sc.,DPT. (@drhossamsamy65) October 19, 2024

“Security forces are still deployed near the building,” he adds. There are no immediate reports of arrests.

A large police presence remains in the area, blocking access to the site, according to an AFP photographer.

The MBC report in question had focused on “terrorism” in the region and mentioned several groups and notable figures including Osama bin Laden and terror groups belonging to the so-called Axis of Resistance backed by Iran, which counts Hamas, Hezbollah and armed Iraqi factions among its members.

Named in the report are former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israel in Beirut last month, and former Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran in July.

It also refers to Haniyeh’s successor, Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, who masterminded the October 7 attack on Israel and was killed in Gaza this week, as the “new face of terrorism.”

Iraqi lawmaker Mustafa Sanad, a member of the pro-Iran majority, accused MBC of “insulting resistance leaders in all countries,” saying the report would have been more suited to Israeli TV.

“It is not enough to ransack or set fire” to the broadcaster’s offices, Sanad says on X, vowing to work to “cancel the license” of the Saudi channel in Iraq.