Word: ites
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...with sectarian violence waning for the time being, the stage may be set for an escalation of the simmering battle among Shi'ites for control of southern Iraq. In Najaf, the spiritual center of Shi'ite Iraq, public displays of respect and cooperation mask an often violent competition between rival factions. Since shortly after the American invasion The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) - known until May 2007 as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI - has clashed, often violently, with followers of the Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. This summer Sadr announced a "freeze...
...further sign that steps are being taken to dial down tensions with Iran, the U.S. military in Baghdad on Friday released nine Iranians in its custody - including two of the five nabbed in Irbil in January, who the U.S. had accused of being linked to Shi'ite militias fighting U.S. troops inside Iraq. There are indications that Tehran may also be acting to cool tensions with the U.S. in Iraq: U.S. officials say the number of deadly explosively-formed-penetrator roadside bombs arriving in Iraq from Iran has been halved between July and October. And while alarmists were...
Leckrone, the American commander, said that with the British out of Basra, and U.S. and Coalition forces withdrawing from Karbala last week, Shi'ite militias in southern Iraq may now focus on Diwaniyah. "There's been, no doubt, a lot of progress lately," he said. "But it's still an uphill battle here, a tough fight. You never know where or when they [the militia] are going...
...militants' tactics in Diwaniyah would be familiar to the British. After months of sustained mortar and rocket attacks on their Basra camps, the British essentially declared victory and slipped out of Basra in the night, pulling back to the regional airport and washing their hands of the Shi'ite infighting that has made Iraq's second largest city ungovernable. British Defense Secretary Des Browne announced Wednesday in Baghdad that the British would hand the Basra region over to Iraqi security forces by mid-December, leaving the city to Iraqi forces that are deeply infiltrated by three warring Shi'ite factions...
Emboldened by a propaganda victory when the British left Basra, Shi'ite militants have since turned their sights on the Poles and the patchwork of other international forces stationed in and around Diwaniyah. Camp Echo, the headquarters of Multinational Division Central-South, is a virtual Tower of Babel where more than 200 Americans and most of the 900-strong Polish force work and live alongside 100 Mongolians, 62 Romanians, 46 Armenians, 36 Bosnians, 27 Ukrainians, a Lithuanian, a Latvian and a bunch of Ugandan guards. Together they and their numbers posted in urban outposts endure frequent mortar and rocket attacks...