Word: basra
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...military commanders in Iraq and the Iraqi government have been trumpeting the growing confidence and successes of the Iraqi army and police force, since Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched an offensive against Basra last month, with the aim of reclaiming control of the southern port city from the Mahdi Army militia of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Despite meeting powerful resistance from the Mahdi Army, and suffering the desertion of roughly 1,300 soldiers who refused to fight, the Iraqis' performance was commended by the U.S. as a show of their newfound competence. "Iraqi forces are taking the lead...
...cleric's demand, issued late Saturday night in Iraq, amounted to his toughest talk yet in the crisis, which began late last month when Iraqi forces attacked al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in a bungled Basra operation. Fighting continued since then in Baghdad and areas of southern Iraq where the Mahdi Army has a strong presence. Officials in the Maliki government said Iraqi security forces swept into the section of Basra controlled by the Mahdi Army without resistance Saturday as U.S. and British bombs fell in the area in support of the operation...
...crisis appeared to remain stalemated, despite the fresh fighting and sharp rhetoric. The advance by Iraqi security forces on Sadr City seems to have stalled, and it remains unclear what picture will be revealed in Basra in the coming days following the supposed gains by Iraqi troopers. Iraqi security forces have yet to land a major blow against al-Sadr's militia, and reports of defection and retreats by Iraqi troopers fighting militiamen continue to circulate...
...battle for political or national or sectarian or religious reasons.' MAJOR GENERAL ABDUL-KARIM KHALAF, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman, on the 1,300 Iraqi soldiers and policemen who were dismissed for either deserting or refusing to fight during last month's Shi'ite-on-Shi'ite battles in Basra...
...before another burst of Sunni insurgent violence north and west of Baghdad, is unlikely to be heeded by Maliki. Still, it underscored the political weight of Sadr's voice. Sadr's Mahdi Army has effectively stopped an advance by U.S. and Iraqi forces into its strongholds in Baghdad and Basra after weeks of fighting. On Monday Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, said American troops operating at the edge of Sadr City in support of Iraqi troops would not press deeper into the area. That means any decisive push into the heart of the Mahdi...