RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has called time out on new subscriptions to Qatar-linked satellite television network beIn Sports, a major broadcaster of international football across the region.
The measure is the latest move against Qatar, after the Kingdom and its allies severed diplomatic ties with Doha.
Saudi Arabia has suspended subscription sales and renewals, as well as beIn Sports receiver imports, its audiovisual authority said in a statement late Monday.
It said it took action because beIn Sports lacked “prior authorizations,” but added existing subscribers would be unaffected.
The broadcaster’s website was blocked as of Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, although customers in the Kingdom told AFP they were still receiving its television programs.
But an adviser to the Saudi royal court, Saud Al-Qahtani, hinted on Twitter that the whistle might also soon be blown on beIn Sports coverage. “There is a huge legal loophole in their monopoly of the broadcast rights,” he said of beIn Sports, which offers coverage of football and a variety of other sports.
Al-Qahtani said there would soon be “alternative solutions, free or for a nominal fee.”
Bahrain, which has also severed diplomatic ties with Qatar, has taken similar measures against the broadcaster, the official BNA news agency said early Tuesday.
Since last week, beIn Sports, a subsidiary of the Al Jazeera global news network, has no longer been accessible on two television providers in the UAE. Saudi Arabia last week ordered shut the local office of Al Jazeera, which has been banned from the airwaves in the Kingdom as well as in the UAE.
Saudi Arabia curbs access to Qatar-linked broadcaster
Saudi Arabia curbs access to Qatar-linked broadcaster
Iraq announces complete withdrawal of US-led coalition from federal territory
- The vast majority of coalition forces had withdrawn from Iraqi bases under a 2024 deal between Baghdad and Washington
- US and allied troops had been deployed to Iraq and Syria since 2014 to fight the Daesh group
BAGHDAD: Iraq said on Sunday US-led coalition forces had finished withdrawing from bases within the country’s federal territory, which excludes the autonomous northern Kurdistan region.
“We announce today... the completion of the evacuation of all military bases and leadership headquarters in the official federal areas of Iraq of advisers” of the US-led coalition, the military committee tasked with overseeing the end of the coalition’s mission said.
With the withdrawal, “these sites come under the full control of Iraqi security forces,” it said in the statement, adding that they would transition to “the stage of bilateral security relations with the United States.”
The vast majority of coalition forces had withdrawn from Iraqi bases under a 2024 deal between Baghdad and Washington outlining the end of the mission in Iraq by the end of 2025 and by September 2026 in the Kurdistan region.
US and allied troops had been deployed to Iraq and Syria since 2014 to fight the Daesh group, which had seized large swathes of both countries to declare their so-called “caliphate.”
The militant group, also known as “Islamic State,” was territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, but continues to operate sleeper cells.
The vast majority of coalition troops withdrew from Iraq over previous stages, with only advisers remaining in the country.
The military committee on Sunday said Iraqi forces were now “fully capable of preventing the reappearance of IS in Iraq and its infiltration across borders.”
“Coordination with the international coalition will continue with regards to completely eliminating IS’s presence in Syria,” it added.
It pointed to “the coalition’s role in Iraq offering cross-border logistical support for operations in Syria, through their presence at an air base in Irbil,” the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
In December, two US soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in Syria in an attack blamed on IS, sparking fears of a resurgence in the country.
The statement added that anti-IS operations would be coordinated with the coalition through the Ain Assad base in Anbar province in western Iraq.
IS attacks in Iraq have massively declined in recent years, but the group maintains a presence in the country’s mountainous areas.
A UN Security Council report in August said: “In Iraq, the group has focused on rebuilding networks along the Syrian border and restoring capacity in the Badia region.”
