Iraqi troops poised to enter Amarah

Nizar Latif, Foreign Correspondent

• Last Updated: June 18. 2008 11:28PM UAE / June 18. 2008 7:28PM GMT

AMARAH, iraq // Iraqi troops, backed by the US military, are due to move into Amarah today in an effort to establish government control over the city.

Forces have been massed on the outskirts of Amarah, in Maysan province, 320km south-east of Baghdad, since Monday when they issued a three-day deadline to militia fighters to surrender their heavy weapons or be forcibly disarmed.

The operation mirrors those of the past few months in Basra, Sadr City and Mosul, as Baghdad tries to extend control over areas that have fallen outside the capital's command.

Leaders within the Sadr movement have said they do not expect members of the Mahdi Army, its military wing, which has a strong presence in the city, to put up any resistance. However they have warned the government it must not unfairly target Sadrists for arrest, amid suspicion the operation is in fact part of an internecine war between rival Shiite factions.

Nouri al Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, ordered the security forces yesterday to refrain from random arrests of the Sadrists, supporters of Muqtada al Sadr, the Shiite leader. "He has stressed that only outlaws must be arrested and he hopes the Sadr leaders will help in isolating such elements to get rid of them," a statement from his office said.

The government has insisted it is targeting non-state armed forces as part of a drive to shut down all militias. In reality, the Sadrists said, the power of the state is being harnessed in a personal vendetta by the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, a key element of the ruling coalition and archrivals to the Sadr movement. Many members of the national security forces are drawn from the SIIC, making them a state-supported militia in the eyes of their critics.

"We support any plan to ensure there is peace and security in Maysan," said Ahmad Masood, a Sadrist member of the Iraqi parliament, the council of ministers. "We are supportive of the right of the government to impose law in all parts of the country."

But he questioned the scale and timing of the military campaign, and said security in the province and in Amarah had been relatively good.

"These are secure areas and we've heard no mention of terrorism from there," Mr Masood said. "So I am sure the task to bring security to these areas will be an easy one because it has already been done."

Provincial elections are scheduled to take place before the end of the year and are likely to involve a bitter contest for power between the SIIC, which claims to be the leading political voice of Iraq's Shiites, and the Sadrists, a highly popular nationalist movement with an anti-occupation stance and a mass following among the Shiite urban poor.

"There are political groups that are hostile to the Sadrists that may want to use these military operations as a way of weakening the movement before the elections," Mr Masood said. "I hope the Iraqi army looks very carefully and impartially at its information before making arrests. They cannot trust the security forces in Amarah."

Amarah is a city of about 500,000 people, mainly Shiites. The Sadrists and the Mahdi Army have a significant presence there and until Monday had offices in an old government building. That was peacefully evacuated, apparently under orders from Mr Sadr, the movement's leader, who said state property should be restored to the authorities.

The Iraqi military has also claimed that Amarah is a centre for smuggling of Iranian weapons, to be used by insurgents against US and Iraqi forces, and oil from the nearby fields, the third largest in Iraq.

Residents in the city said in interviews they would welcome the arrival of government troops after years of being badly ruled by militias - principally the Mahdi Army.

"The militias have had their own rules here and we have had to live under a constant pressure and fear from that," said Mohammad al Hadam, 37, a father of two. "We want to be run by the government. The militias have done nothing except raise unemployment and make our lives harder."

He predicted today would pass by peacefully, and said that many members of the Mahdi Army had already fled the city, seeking refuge in Iran or Iraq's southern marshlands. "They are gone and we couldn't be happier," he said.

Another Amarah resident, who asked to be identified only as Um Haider for fear of her security, said the Mahdi Army had made her life "hell".

"I have three daughters who are all well educated, but I was terrified to let them go outside," the 53-year-old woman said. "If the militia found them not wearing the right Islamic dress or behaving in the way they wanted, there could be trouble. They kill girls for that type of thing.

"They are religious extremists and their presence here meant the end of normal life for all women in Maysan. As soon as they have been thrown out from here, we will have our freedom back."

Um Haider said she was always stopped and questioned by militia fighters on the street. "These people have no right to do anything but they were in control. Now we'll have proper police and soldiers here."



nlatif@thenational.ae