BAGHDAD, April 1: An Iranian-based Arabic television news station opposed to the US-led invasion of Iraq is drawing viewers in Baghdad where it offers residents an alternative to the government’s propaganda output.

Al-Alam, or The World, is a 24-hour news channel which broadcasts on terrestrial air waves, allowing Iraqis to tune in to watch the latest news. Satellite dishes are banned in Iraq.

“I am selling these like bread,” said one man selling aerials that improve reception of the station as buyers lined up at his kiosk in downtown Baghdad.

Al-Alam, which has a news bulletin on top of the hour, every hour, round the clock, also hosts on its talk-shows Iraqi dissidents and exiles opposed to President Saddam Hussein.

Most of its main newscasters are Lebanese or Palestinian.

Based in Tehran, it carries international agency reports and footage, including extensive clips of Iraqi civilians being treated in hospitals or lying dead in residential areas.

Its continuous coverage of the Iraqi crisis, under the slogan “War for Control”, portrays invading US and British troops in Iraq as occupiers.

Iraqi state television, targeted repeatedly by US warplanes and missiles, only broadcasts heavily censored news reports and tows the official line, showing military spokesmen and featuring nationalist and pro-Saddam songs.—AFP