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Pro-Iran groups ransack Saudi television channel’s Iraq office

It followed a report by Saudi broadcaster MBC that referred to the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and other Iran-backed groups as ‘terrorists’

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Iraqis carry images of the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during an anti-Israel rally in Karbala, south of Baghdad on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE
Supporters of pro-Iran armed groups ransacked the offices of a Saudi TV channel in Iraq early on Saturday, a security source said, after the broadcaster aired a report referring to commanders of Tehran-backed militant groups as “terrorists”.
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Between 400 and 500 people attacked the Baghdad studios of Saudi broadcaster MBC after midnight.

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

He said the fire had been extinguished and the crowd dispersed by police.

“Security forces are still deployed near the building,” he added.

Iraqis carry banners reading ‘no to normalization’ in Arabic during a protest in Karbala, south of Baghdad, on Friday against Israel’s military strikes and operations in both Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Photo: EPA-EFE
Iraqis carry banners reading ‘no to normalization’ in Arabic during a protest in Karbala, south of Baghdad, on Friday against Israel’s military strikes and operations in both Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Photo: EPA-EFE

Excerpts from an MBC programme had been making the rounds on Iraqi social media, sparking angry reactions from the pro-Iran camp.

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