Protesters set Saudi TV offices on fire in Baghdad

Last Updated on October 21, 2024 5:34 am

Iraqi protesters set fire to the offices of the controversial Saudi-owned TV channel MBC in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, after insulting the leaders of the pro-Palestinian armed group Hamas.

According to a report by Raya News, the Saudi-owned TV channel Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) recently published a report titled ‘Millennium of Liberation from Terrorists’. It called late Hamas leaders Ismail Haniya, Saleh al-Arouri and Yahya Sinwar, who were killed in an Israeli attack by the occupying forces, as ‘terrorists’.

In addition to Hamas, the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah and the Iraqi armed group Iraqi Mobilization Force also call fighters “terrorists”. However, the report did not comment on the deaths of more than 44,000 innocent people by Israeli occupation and military aggression in Gaza and Lebanon.

The airing of the report led to widespread controversy and criticism. Hamas also protested the report. In a statement on behalf of the group, the MBC channel is inciting hatred against the Palestinian independence movement and its leaders while the Palestinian people are suffering genocide at the hands of the Israeli occupation.

Meanwhile, supporters of Iraqi armed resistance groups took to the streets to protest the controversial report. At one point in the protest, the Baghdad office of the TV channel was attacked.

According to a report by Raya News, four to five hundred people attacked MBC’s Baghdad studio on Saturday morning (October 19) local time. Agitated mob destroyed television channel’s electronics, computers and set fire to a part of the building.

An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said the fire in the building had been brought under control and police had evacuated people who had come to attack the TV office.

The Saudi Arabian TV channel released the report at a time when Iran-backed groups – particularly Hamas and Hezbollah, and their allies in Yemen, Iraq and Syria – have been at war with Israel for more than a year.

Iraq has a pro-Iranian majority. The country’s government is making diplomatic efforts to stay out of regional conflicts. On the other hand, Iran and Saudi Arabia have been regional rivals for a long time. However, from 2023, the relationship between the two countries began to thaw.

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