Saudi streaming service Shahid airs Israeli docuseries on Hezbollah

A prominent Saudi broadcaster has aired an Israeli-made documentary about Lebanese militia and political group Hezbollah and its alleged drug trafficking pursuits.

MBC released on its online streaming platform Shahid 'Cassandra’s Prophecy', a documentary mini-series about US and Israeli operations against the Iran-backed Lebanese group.

It came after Israeli broadcaster Kan reported last week that broadcast rights for the docuseries were bought by the MBC Group, a broadcasting network part-owned by the Saudi state.

The docuseries "tells the story of 10 year effort of the DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration] and Mossad to disrupt Hezbollah's growing involvement in cocaine trafficking as it became one of the worlds most significant cartels", its IMDb page reads.

Lebanon's Hezbollah has fought Israel on multiple occasions since its establishment in 1982.

The documentary, originally released in 2022, is an Israeli-Canadian-German co-production.

It reportedly questions the "real price" of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which bound Iran to limit its nuclear capabilities in return for sanctions relief. Israel has long been a critic of the deal.

The streaming of the docuseries comes as Saudi Arabia tries to improve its relations with Iran amid rumours of possible normalisation with its archenemy Israel.

Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore ties earlier this year through a deal brokered by Beijing.

Despite a big push from Tel Aviv since Benjamin Netanyahu became prime minister of Israel again in December 2022, Riyadh has so far resisted normalisation with Israel - though it has not shut down the idea entirely.

Saudi Arabia maintains that it will not normalise ties with Israel until a Palestinian state is established.