Syria accused of blocking BBC broadcasts

Syria was facing accusations last night that it was using sophisticated satellite "jamming" technology to block BBC broadcasts across the Mediterrean.

The Telegraph

"The BBC said on its broadcasts were being disrupted in the Middle East and Europe. Broadcasters including CNN and Voice of America using the Eutelsat were suffering widespread disruption.

Sources within broadcasting companies said Syria appeared to have sought Iranian assistance to disrupt the signal as part of an information war against the West.

Syria has accused Western and Arab television stations of fanning the flames of its civil war with "distortions and lies" about the government's response to popular protests. Iran is an ally of the Damascus regime that stands accused of providing assistance to Syrian crackdown.

The satellite operator said it had identified the source of the attacks. "The deliberate and intermittent interference that began earlier this week is coming from Syria," it said.

"The BBC, together with a number of other broadcasters, is experiencing deliberate, intermittent interference to its transmissions to audiences in Europe and the Middle East," it said in a statement. "Deliberate interference such as the jamming of transmissions is a blatant violation of international regulations concerning the use of satellites and we strongly condemn any practice designed to disrupt audiences."......

....."Such deplorable tactics illustrate again the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran, and the desperation of the Iranian regime to silence any independent voices," he said in February."