Baghdad office ransacked after Saudi broadcaster labels pro-Iran commanders as 'terrorists'

Supporters of pro-Iran armed groups in Iraq ransacked offices affiliated with a Saudi TV channel in Baghdad early on Saturday, two security sources said, after the broadcaster aired a report referring to commanders of Tehran-backed outfits as “terrorists”.

After midnight, between 400 and 500 people attacked the studios of a production company in Baghdad that works for the Saudi broadcaster MBC.

“They wrecked the electronic equipment, the computers and set fire to a part of the building,” an interior ministry source told AFP 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. There were no immediate reports of arrests.

On Saturday morning, a large police presence remained in the area, blocking access to the site, according to an AFP photographer.

“The demonstrators arrived at the offices before reinforcements of riot police were sent in,” a police source told AFP, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

The second source confirmed that the offices had been “set on fire” and “badly ransacked”.

‘Insulting resistance leaders’

Excerpts from an MBC programme had been circulating on Iraqi social media, sparking angry reactions from supporters of Iran-backed factions.

The report focused on “terrorism” in the region and mentioned several groups and figures, including Osama bin Laden. It included 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 were 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 referred to Haniyeh’s successor, Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, who masterminded the October 7 attack on Israel and was killed in Gaza on Thursday, as the “new face of terrorism”.

The report came at a time when these groups — most notably Hamas and Hezbollah, but also their allies in Yemen, Iraq and Syria — have been fighting Israel for more than a year.

The Sabreen News channel, which is close to pro-Iran factions in Iraq, distributed videos of protesters in Baghdad brandishing the flags of various armed groups on Telegram.

The Iraqi government is led by a pro-Iran majority and has made diplomatic efforts to stay out of the regional conflict.

However, the so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a nebulous group of pro-Iran armed factions, claims responsibility for frequent drone attacks against Israel.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have long been regional rivals but began a rapprochement in 2023. The conflict in Gaza, meanwhile, has put an end to discussions about Saudi Arabia potentially recognising Israel.

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 said on X, vowing to work to “cancel the licence” of the channel in Iraq.