Word: basra
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...cleric Moqtada al-Sadr today called for an end to the fighting between his followers and Iraqi forces in the escalating conflict that has engulfed the southern city of Basra. In a statement issued from his headquarters in Najaf, al-Sadr demanded, in return, that the government give his supporters amnesty and release any followers that are being held...
Despite having been initiated by the Iraqi government, the offensive by Iraqi security forces against militiamen in Basra is increasingly drawing in the United States, both militarily and politically. U.S. air power was used in the key port city for the first time on Thursday night in support of Iraqi forces trying to dislodge fighters of Moqtada Sadr's Mahdi Army, and U.S. troops clashed with Mahdi Army militants in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City on Friday. President Bush, speaking in Washington, called the fight a "defining moment" for Iraq, but the clashes could have important implications...
...There has been Coalition air presence for four days," said Maj. Tom Holloway, a spokesman for the British military in Basra. He said that the request for air support had come from the Iraqi military, relayed through American and British liaison officers at the scene, and approved by U.S. military officials...
...Holloway also sought to clarify earlier remarks that had been interpreted in Western media reports to mean that the U.S. planes had dropped bombs in Basra. He told TIME Friday night that American planes used heavy machine guns - not explosives - to attack two militia positions. He said the first had been a mortar team that had been firing on Iraqi soldiers, while the second was a fortified position that Holloway said had been "teeming with enemy...
...Whatever the specific weapons used in the U.S. close air support operations in Basra, their significance is clear. Taken together with Friday's announcement by Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki that the three-day deadline he had originally given militia fighters to surrender their weapons had now been extended to 10 days (and that those who complied would be financially rewarded), the U.S. air strikes appear to indicate that the fighting has been tougher than Iraqi government officials had anticipated. And while they insist that the offensive is aimed only at "rogue elements" of the Madhi Army and other militias...