It’ll be nearly 100 degrees in Basra today. From Gina Chon at the WSJ:
Residents in two Shiite-controlled neighborhoods here said Monday that armed militias have taken over rooms in several schools and stocked them with rockets, in a sign they could be gearing up for more attacks against the U.S.-backed government. On Tuesday, Mahdi Army members told employees at local ministry offices in Sadr City, such as the Ministry of Education, to go home, according to witnesses…
In areas under its control, the Mahdi Army ordered some shops closed Monday and they remained shut down on Tuesday, according to witnesses. Students were also ordered to go home and schools were closed. The militia has said it would initiate what Sadr-aligned politicians have called a “civil disobedience” movement in Baghdad, to protest what it says is an unfair crackdown on Sadr followers by the government.
From Michael Kamber at the IHT:
Said Ammar, a government employee, said that he was standing near a police checkpoint in Baghdad’s Hurrya neighborhood Tuesday morning when he was approached by Mahdi army members. “They told me not to stand near checkpoints. They said, ‘We are waiting for the word from Moktada Sadr to attack the checkpoints—it may come at any moment.’”
Sadr City, the Baghdad district that is the center of the Mahdi army’s power, was sealed off by a double-cordon of Iraqi and American troops. Gunfire could be heard inside the sprawling slum from the checkpoints on the outskirts.
From Aref Mohammed at Reuters on Basra:
“There are clashes in the streets. Bullets are coming from everywhere and we can hear the sound of rocket explosions. This has been going on since dawn,” resident Jamil told Reuters by telephone as he cowered in his home…
Major Tom Holloway, a spokesman for British forces in Basra, said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was in the city to oversee the operation.
“It will be very difficult for the central government to regain control,” said Joost Hiltermann, an Istanbul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group think-tank.
“You have many armed groups that are looking to keep hold of their share of the oil wealth.”
From Ryan Lenz at the Guardian:
On Monday, al-Maliki relieved the top two security officials in Basra, officials said.
At least one Iraqi battalion has already been sent to Basra, an official in the defense ministry said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t supposed to talk to the media. Other battalions may be called from Iraq’s southern provinces.
From McClatchy:
Fliers were distributed with the Sadrists’ three demands of the Iraqi government: to release detainees, stop targeting Sadrist members and apologize to the families and the tribal sheiks of the men…
The Iraqi government announced a three-day security plan, beginning 5 p.m. Tuesday, to seal Basra off from other governorates and countries, shut down schools and all institutes of education and ban vehicles from entering the province…
As Shiite violence rises, U.S. troop deaths also appear to be rising in places such as Baghdad, where the American military is thinning out its presence as part of its drawdown of five brigades. Attacks against civilians in the capital are rising, according to statistics compiled by McClatchy. Next week, the U.S. will finish pulling out the second of five surge brigades. As part of the drawdown, the military has moved battalions out of Baghdad toward more violent areas such as the northern city of Mosul and Iraq’s northeastern Diyala province.
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