WSWS
: News &
Analysis : Middle
East : Iraq
Fighting intensifies around Shiite holy cities in Iraq
By James Conachy
17 May 2004
Use
this version to print
| Send this
link by email | Email the
author
The US military is intensifying its efforts to crush the uprising
in Iraq led by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Over the past week,
major attacks have been launched by American troops in Najaf and
Karbalathe location of the most important shrines of the
Shia faithas well as ongoing operations in the rebellious
Sadr City, a major working class suburb of Baghdad.
Sadr and thousands of fighters in his Madhi Army militia have
held Najaf and the nearby town of Kufa since early April. Defensive
positions have been erected in the city centre around the revered
Shrine of Iman Ali. Previously US troops had not made a concerted
push into the city after warnings by Shiite religious leaders
that fighting in Najaf would inflame the Shiite population, especially
if the sacred sites were damaged.
Over the last week, however, the scale and intensity of US
military operations in Najaf have steadily escalated. US troops
battled for most of Friday to drive militiamen out of the sprawling
Shiite cemetery on the outskirts of the city and move tanks to
within a few kilometres of the city centre. In the course of the
fighting, four bullets hit the golden dome of the Shrine of Iman
Ali. The Najaf hospital reported treating at least 26 wounded
civilians.
Further clashes took place over the weekend. As it did during
the siege of Fallujah, the American military has deployed squads
of snipers to kill as many militiamen as possible and terrorise
the population. Thousands of civilians have reportedly fled Najaf,
fearing that the US is on the verge of a final offensive to recapture
the city from Sadrs fighters.
People are also fleeing Karbala. US and Polish troops have
positioned themselves within 400 metres of the citys two
shrinesthe Shrine of Iman Hussein and the Shrine of Abbas.
During fighting on Wednesday, the Mukhaiyam mosque, which was
being used as a base of operations by Sadrs militia, was
partially destroyed by US tanks and warplanes.
On Friday, American tanks directly fired at the roof of the
Thulfiqar Hotel, which was being used by a number journalists
and camera crews to record the US push into the city. The owner
of the hotel told the Washington Post: They [the
tanks] first made warning shots. When the reporters wouldnt
move, they shot. None of the journalists was injured.
Fighting continued over the weekend. On Sunday, an unarmed
1,000-strong crowd, chanting Long live Sadr! The Americans
are an army of infidels! prevented a column of US tanks
from approaching the shrines.
At least a dozen clashes took place in the Sadr City district
of Baghdad on Friday and Saturday between militiamen and US troops.
Three American troops were killed and 18 Iraqi fighters. The Green
Zonethe heavily fortified and guarded base of the US Coalition
Provisional Authority in the capitalwas rocketed by resistance
groups.
Shiite fighters also carried out attacks on coalition troops
in other cities in southern Iraq. In Nasiriyah yesterday, Sadrs
militiamen forced Italian troops to evacuate their base. At least
10 Italians were wounded. In Basra, a British base was mortared
on Saturday, while Dutch troops in Samawah also came under mortar
fire.
The decision by the US military to go on the offensive in Najaf
and Karbala appears to stem from the recognition that Sadrs
six-week-old uprising is not running out of steam, but gaining
strength.
US spokesmen have confidently predicted for weeks that the
Shiite factions under the influence of leading cleric Ali al-Sistani
were on the verge of pressuring Sadr into bowing down to US authority.
In the last two weeks, they have gone further, insinuating that
pro-occupation Shiites were about to step in and physically deal
with Sadrs militiamen.
However, an anti-Sadr demonstration planned in Najaf on Friday
by the pro-occupation Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution
in Iraq (SCIRI) was called off, ostensibly to avoid a confrontation
with his militiamen. The more likely reason was that it was abandoned
due to lack of support. In an area with a population of several
million, less than 1,000 people took part in anti-Sadr protests
earlier in the week.
On Saturday a delegation from Fallujah met with Sadr and reportedly
offered to send fighters to Najaf if they were asked for. Food
and humanitarian assistance is being gathered in Sunni areas to
send to the fighters in the Shiite south. A convoy of nine trucks
arrived in Kufa on the weekend.
Far from support waning, it is apparent that millions of Iraqis
believe that Sadrs uprising embodies their aspirations for
liberation from American rule. In a recent poll, 50 percent of
Iraqis said they now support or strongly support al-Sadr, compared
with 2 percent before the start of the rebellion.
In another significant development, a British convoy was ambushed
in the marshland region of southern Iraq between Basra and Amarah.
While the organisers of the attack has not been verified, it can
only further unnerve the occupation forces.
The Shiite Marsh Arabs fought a protracted guerilla war against
the former Baathist regime and were viewed in Washington as one
of the Iraqi groups most likely to support the US-led invasion.
Last month, however, their main leader, Adbul Karim Mahoud al-Mohammedawi,
resigned from the puppet Iraqi Governing Council, denouncing the
US atrocities against the Iraqi people in Fallujah and other areas
of the country. If the Marsh Arabs have begun to take up arms,
it opens up an entirely new front.
Thirteen months after the invasion of Iraq, the US-led occupation
confronts a burgeoning armed resistance movement, constant casualties
and the realisation that the vast majority of the Iraqi people
want them out of the country.
See Also:
US forces attack in Baghdad, tensions
build around Najaf
[11 May 2004]
Fighting escalates in Iraq as US seeks
to crush Shia rebellion
[10 May 2004]
US faces ongoing Shiite uprising in southern
Iraq
[6 May 2004]
Marines pull back from Fallujah, a debacle
for American imperialism
[4 May 2004]
Top of page
The WSWS invites your comments.
Copyright 1998-2007
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved |