[Iran Press TV] Leb’s Hezbollah resistance movement has strongly condemned the latest decision by the Egyptian satellite service provider, Nilesat, to stop airing its news channel, Al-Manar.Hezbollah decried the decision in a statement issued on Wednesday, according to al-Ahed news website.
The movement said the decision is a blatant violation of the freedom of opinion and expression as well as an attempt to "silence the voice of resistance".
Hezbollah also stressed that such unjust measures will not succeed in silencing the voice of the pro-resistance media outlets in Leb and Paleostine.
The movement called on the company to reverse its decision immediately and urged the Egyptian authorities to exert pressure on the satellite operator to restore Al-Manar.
The statement added that the Egyptians know before others that such actions serve the Israeli goals and demands.
Egypt satellite operator drops Hezbollah mouthpiece Al-Manar
[IsraelTimes] Move comes ahead of visit to Cairo by Saudi Arabian king, amid Gulf crackdown on Lebanese Shiite group
A leading Arab satellite operator cut transmission of Hezbollah’s television channel Al-Manar on Wednesday amid soaring tensions between the Lebanese Shiite terrorist group’s backer Iran and Sunni powerhouse Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
"Nilesat informed the [Lebanese] telecommunications ministry of the need to stop transmitting Al-Manar channel through the Nilesat satellite," Leb’s National News Agency reported. "The management of Nilesat said the reason for the request… was that it had violated their agreement by airing programs that provoke sectarian strife and sedition.”
Nilesat did not immediately comment when contacted by AFP at its Cairo headquarters.
The cut came ahead of a planned visit by Saudi King Salman to Egypt, which operates the Nilesat satellite.
Last month, Gulf Arab states led by Saudi Arabia blacklisted Hezbollah, the leading force in Lebanon’s governing bloc, as a “terrorist” organisation. The kingdom halted a $3 billion program of military aid to Lebanon to protest what it said was “the stranglehold of Hezbollah on the state”. It also urged its citizens to leave Lebanon and avoid travelling there.
Al-Manar said on its Arabic Twitter account that it could still be watched via a Russian satellite or online.
The moves against Hezbollah come amid a spike in tensions between its backer Tehran and Riyadh this year after demonstrators stormed the kingdom’s missions in Iran following Saudi Arabia’s execution of a Shiite cleric. The kingdom cut diplomatic ties with Iran and led Arab allies in a series of retaliatory measures against it. While Saudi Arabia is the main supporter of Syria’s Sunni-led rebels, Hezbollah is fighting alongside President Bashar Assad’s troops, who are backed by Iranian troops officially called “military advisers” by Tehran.
| Perhaps this influenced Egyptian sensitivity to Saudi desires: |