Word: basra
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...radically different strategy from what U.S. war planners had apparently anticipated. Rather than ceding the Shiite south and hunkering down for a showdown in Baghdad, Iraqi irregulars continue to put up tough fight across southern and central Iraq. The expected popular uprising and joyous welcome of coalition forces in Basra has not yet materialized, and Iraqi commanders have committed forces to slow the coalition advance in towns along the Euphrates, such as Nasiriyah, Najaf, Kerbala and Samawha, further south than expected. Iraqi political militias organized on guerrilla lines have put up stubborn, often suicidal resistance in towns all along...
...Earlier reports of a popular uprising in the besieged city of Basra may have been overstated, and British forces are preparing to fight their way into the town in order to avert a humanitarian catastrophe. Hundreds of Iraqi armored vehicles left the predominantly Shiite city Wednesday, and came under air attack by coalition aircraft. And in a surprise move whose purpose is not yet clear, the Medina division of Iraq's Republican Guard sent some 1,000 armored vehicles out of Baghdad toward the frontline positions of the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division. Although such a deployment would stiffen resistance...
...situation in Basra is also not going that well for the British, whose prime responsibility it is to take that city. British forces claim to have taken the airport and to be positioned 3 miles to the west of Basra, but last night took a lot of shelling and there are some concerns that units of the elite Republican Guard may have been secretly sent to help defend Basra, contrary to coalition expectations. Nor is time on the British forces' side - according to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Basra is running out of fresh water, and unless...
...Sunday and Monday's reports of fierce fighting at Nasiriyah and Najaf, continuing rearguard battles at the southern ports of Umm Qasr and Basra, combined with Saddam's TV appearances and the spectacle of a downed U.S. helicopter and captured POWs, suggest that the regime has avoided the internal collapse desired by U.S. planners. Even though coalition forces have advanced rapidly to within striking distance of the forces deployed to guard Baghdad, success has not come without a fight. Nor have they entirely subdued the territory through which they have passed - elements of the Iraqi military and members...
...setback posed by the fighting in Basra may be more political than military. U.S. frontline forces had bypassed Basra and swung north for Baghdad, leaving the British to take possession of a city where coalition commanders had hoped they would be welcomed. After all, the predominantly Shiite population of Iraq's third largest city had led the 1991 revolt against Saddam, and a whole Iraqi division deployed to defend it had surrendered. The spectacle of coalition forces being welcomed without a fight would certainly have helped PR efforts to counter mounting Arab and Muslim hostility to the war. Instead, resistance...