Word: militia
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...past six weeks, Kufa and the two cities that house the holiest shrines of Shi'as, Najaf and Karbala, have been the center of al-Sadr's revolt. His militia claim to be protecting the shrines from U.S. forces that have besieged the cities. U.S. commanders insist al-Sadr is a small-time threat whose appeal is limited to a ragtag bunch of angry young men. But judging by the number and intensity of worshippers thronging the mosque in Kufa last Friday, the U.S. may be underestimating the rebel leader. In fact, the more the U.S. aims its guns...
...also packed to overflowing. Virtually every male in the city carries a combat weapon, even vendors who sell food and trinkets outside the mosque walls. As prayers draw to an end, the gunfire and occasional loud explosion seem to be getting closer. As soon as they finish, the Mahdi militia looses a salvo of Katyusha rockets at the U.S. base less than a mile away...
...Sadr has experienced a remarkable shift in fortune. A couple of months ago, he was a marginal nuisance. But since launching its uprising in April, his militia has turned southern Iraq into a grinding standoff for the overwhelmingly superior coalition forces. U.S. officials say the Mahdi Army has perhaps 5,000 fighters nationwide, but last Friday there were almost that many in Kufa and nearby Najaf, 6 miles away...
Such measures continue to draw international fire. But militants in Rafah tell TIME that the Lebanese militia Hizballah has indeed used the tunnels to smuggle weaponry and explosives to Palestinian militants in Gaza. They say the materiel comes via African countries where Hizballah has a network among Lebanese emigres. Israeli intelligence officers confirm that Sudan is a major source, but say most of the guns and bombs still originate in Lebanon. They believe Palestinian groups are trying to acquire deadlier plastic explosives, and fear that the tunnels could also be used to import Katyusha missiles into Gaza. In the face...
...insurgents in charge of security under the rubric of a new Iraqi security force working in cooperation with the Marines. A number of reports now suggest that a similar deal is about to be struck with the Sadrists. The U.S. would withdraw from the shrine cities, Moqtada Sadr's militia would be turned into a political party and some of its fighters would be incorporated into the Iraqi security forces. Although the U.S. had previously demanded that Sadr be taken into custody to stand trial over his alleged involvement in the killing of a rival cleric last year, the reported...