ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC) on Saturday announced the suspension of Saudi-owned MBC Iraq from operating in the country, hours after supporters of Shiite armed factions stormed its office in Baghdad in protest of a news report by its parent channel which had labelled late “Axis of Resistance” leaders as “terrorists”.
“Given the MBC satellite channel's violation of media broadcasting regulations via its repeated violations and its attacks on the martyrs, leaders of victory, and heroic resistance leaders who are fighting the battle of honor against the usurping Zionist entity, we confirm taking all necessary legal measures and suspending it from operating in Iraq,” CMC said in a statement.
The CMC also directed “the executive body” of their Commission to “cancel the work license granted to MBC.”
The recent news report by MBC titled “the millennium of eliminating terrorists” highlights a series of Axis of Resistance leaders that “the world has been relieved from” since the start of the 2000’s, including most recently Yahya Sinwar, political bureau chief of the Palestinian Hamas.
The 15-minute video report also mentions former Hamas politburo chief Ismail Hanieyh, former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, as well influential Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and former Kataib Hezbollah leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, two highly-venerated figures among Shiite Iraqis, labeling them “terrorists” and “evil”.
The report refers to Soleimani as a "symbol of terrorism" and “creator of destruction and war,” and describes Muhandis as “the founder of several Iraqi militias which contributed to assassinations and explosions inside and outside of Iraq.”
The video was deleted from MBC’s social media platforms and YouTube channel after receiving heavy backlash, including from Hamas which described the report as “A professional, media and moral downfall that is consistent with the Zionist propaganda and narrative that seeks to demonize the resistance and its symbols.”
The Palestinian group called on the Saudi channel to immediately delete the report, issue an apology, and amend “this malicious editorial approach which is in line with the occupation agenda.”
Demonstrators carrying flags of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an Iraq-state sponsored armed network mainly comprised of pro-Iran Shiite factions, gathered in front of the office of MBC Iraq in the early hours of Saturday, shouting chants against the US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia’s ruling royal family House of Saud.
The protesters later stormed the office, trashing the place and setting fire to the building.
Israel has carried out a series of high-profile assassinations of Axis of Resistance leaders in recent months, primarily senior figures of the Lebanese Hezbollah, including the group’s former chief Nasrallah, top military commander Fuad Shukr, senior leader Ibrahim Aqil, and commander of the group's missile and rocket units Ibrahim Qubaisi. Abbas Nilforoushan, a senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was also killed alongside Nasrallah in late September.
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