Basrah "surge" update March 29 2008 – March 30 2008
Overview Basrah:
There is extremely intense fighting still going on in Basrah. After a relatively calm morning – 8 people killed and 7 were wounded in an airstrike by the Americans on al-Tak in al-Hussein, an area the GZG said on Friday they had control of – GZG troops assisted by Badr militia and British artillery made efforts to dislodge Mahdi army fighters from their positions. These appear to have failed according to local reports the Mahdi army seem to have withdrawn to prepared defensive positions. The GZG “defence” minister says they cleared Mahdi army fighters from Al-Ashar, Tanouma, Shatt Al-Arab, al-Zubair. The efforts by GZG forces to recapture the bridge at Qurnah also are reported to have failed. This means that the GZG attemts to reinforce are not working which perhaps explains his comment that they were surprised by the weaponry being used by Mahdi army fighters and therefore are bringing up heavier weaponry to try to dislodge the Mahdi army. He and other spokesmen are saying that GZG forces will fight on until they have “cleared Basrah of criminal elements”. Maliki has gone as far as to say that the JAM are “worse than al Qaeda”.
Residents in al Taminmiyah say that GZG forces are making announcements demanding they leave their homes and that afraid of being caught up in an assault many have complied. Other residents report that GZG troops attempted an incursion and are now trapped there are similar reports from Zubair and al-Ashar. There are widespread reports of defections by GZG police and army to the Mahdi army. Mahdi army has also allowed journalists to speak to captured GZG police and army soldiers.
A bombing raid on Sunday night by the Americans seriously wounded 7 people and cause the collapse of two houses. UPDATE: 10 killed 7 wouned
Overview Baghdad:
Political:
In his interview with al-Jazeera al-Sadr made the following key points:
- He would never accept the American occupation of Irak.
- Politics and religion are inseparable this does not mean that the Sadrists are a political party – they will never be that.
- The role of the clergy is to observe and advise the government.
- That all Irakis Sunni and Shia alike should resist the American attempts to occupy Irak.
- That he had rejected and denounced sectarian killings repeatedly.
- That sectarian (and ethnic) killing would always take place for as long as the Americans were in Irak.
- That he personally had told Iranian supreme leader Khamenei that Iranian interference in Irak would not be tolerated.
- That the struggle in Irak was both political and sectarian that it was political at government level and sectarian and street level.
- That at the political level Sadrist representatives in the GZG “parliament” routinely voted with the “Sunni” parties.
UPDATE AL-Sadr has explicitly told his supporters not to give their weapons to GZG forces that they may only give their weapons to a government that expels the Americans. UPDATE The GZG have sent a delegation to Najaf to negotiate with the Sadrists.
Hospitals in Sadr city said that by noon Friday, 39 people were killed and 389 others injured since the outbreak of fighting and airstrikes on Sadr City. By noon Saturday the casualty levels had gone up to 75 dead and 500 wounded. GZG Health ministry officials update that figure on Sunday morning to 125 dead and 892 wounded.
The spokesman for GZG Baghdad Operations Command finally got around to admitting that the “surge” spokesman has been kidnapped – he was responding to questions about the tape released of him pleading with Maliki to end the current operation.
Fighting broke out after midnight in Abu D’sheer.
The curfew has been tightened and extended indefinitely.
Other Governorates
Fighting continues in Karbala. (Local GZG security forces deny this saying that what is happening is a series of raids.) There is sporadic fighting. The Dawa party HQ in al Salam was attacked by fighters using RPGs. Fighting also continues in Diwaniyah.
Site News: Many of us are running low on fuel for our generators. This means very light or no posting from Monday. The subscribers edition will continue to be produced as normal.
Saba
[...] confirm that in regard to al Taminmiyah the reports from residents in this earlier posting “Other residents report that GZG troops attempted an incursion and are now trapped there are similar …“turns out to have been no more than the truth and that the same is true of Zubair and [...]