Post by bot on Jun 5, 2004 20:10:15 GMT -5
Truce restores security in Najaf, coalition says
'Iraqis are back on the streets. There's traffic. There's commerce'
www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/05/iraq.main/index.html
Saturday, June 5, 2004 Posted: 3:12 PM EDT (1912 GMT)
Despite quiet in Najaf, violence hit Baghdad when a blast went off. Here, U.S. troops secure the site on Saturday.
NAJAF, Iraq (CNN) -- A day after a truce deal went into effect, the pitched battles in Najaf and Kufa between U.S. forces and Muqtada al-Sadr's militia dramatically fizzled out, restoring security in the volatile southern Iraqi region, a coalition spokesman said Saturday.
Dan Senor, a spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority, said members of the al-Sadr's Mehdi Army are withdrawing from the streets of Kufa and Najaf, where fighting has raged for weeks.
"The situation in Najaf has improved significantly" since Friday, when the truce deal went into effect, Senor said.
"There is a sense of return to normalcy," Senor told reporters. "Iraqis are back on the streets. There's traffic. There's commerce. People are going about their daily lives in a way that they have not in a number of weeks."
He said that a mood of "cautious optimism prevails."
Senor's remarks came as al-Sadr met Saturday with the most influential Shiite cleric in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani, al-Sadr's office confirmed. Among the issues they discussed was management of holy sites.
Mehdi Army's fighters, Senor said, "have virtually disappeared from the streets, including the old city of Najaf."
"We expect that Muqtada al-Sadr will live up to the commitments he made to the Shia caucus."
The commitments concern the withdrawal of Sadr's fighters from Najaf and Kufa, the departure of fighters from elsewhere in Najaf province, evacuating occupied buildings, closing his Sharia court and prison, and supporting the return of Iraqi police to all parts of the city.
"We will do our part in support of this agreement," Senor said, but he warned that if expectations aren't met, the coalition "will act and respond accordingly."
Adnan al-Zurufi, the governor of Najaf province, Friday announced Iraqi forces would move into the center of Kufa and Najaf City and U.S. troops will retreat to the periphery.
Al-Sadr's forces had said they would leave when indigenous forces took control of the streets.
Senor said coalition forces are engaging in joint patrols with Iraqis and will continue to act and react as they see fit. He said the coalition continues to maintain that al-Sadr, wanted in connection with the killing of a rival cleric, should be brought to justice, and that the militia should be disbanded and disarmed.
Senor said the effort would be reviewed 72 hours after its Friday night implementation.
"Just because we are making progress in Najaf and Kufa does not mean that Muqtada al-Sadr can withdraw his forces, redeploy them in another part of the country, and we will ignore them.
'Iraqis are back on the streets. There's traffic. There's commerce'
www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/06/05/iraq.main/index.html
Saturday, June 5, 2004 Posted: 3:12 PM EDT (1912 GMT)
Despite quiet in Najaf, violence hit Baghdad when a blast went off. Here, U.S. troops secure the site on Saturday.
NAJAF, Iraq (CNN) -- A day after a truce deal went into effect, the pitched battles in Najaf and Kufa between U.S. forces and Muqtada al-Sadr's militia dramatically fizzled out, restoring security in the volatile southern Iraqi region, a coalition spokesman said Saturday.
Dan Senor, a spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority, said members of the al-Sadr's Mehdi Army are withdrawing from the streets of Kufa and Najaf, where fighting has raged for weeks.
"The situation in Najaf has improved significantly" since Friday, when the truce deal went into effect, Senor said.
"There is a sense of return to normalcy," Senor told reporters. "Iraqis are back on the streets. There's traffic. There's commerce. People are going about their daily lives in a way that they have not in a number of weeks."
He said that a mood of "cautious optimism prevails."
Senor's remarks came as al-Sadr met Saturday with the most influential Shiite cleric in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani, al-Sadr's office confirmed. Among the issues they discussed was management of holy sites.
Mehdi Army's fighters, Senor said, "have virtually disappeared from the streets, including the old city of Najaf."
"We expect that Muqtada al-Sadr will live up to the commitments he made to the Shia caucus."
The commitments concern the withdrawal of Sadr's fighters from Najaf and Kufa, the departure of fighters from elsewhere in Najaf province, evacuating occupied buildings, closing his Sharia court and prison, and supporting the return of Iraqi police to all parts of the city.
"We will do our part in support of this agreement," Senor said, but he warned that if expectations aren't met, the coalition "will act and respond accordingly."
Adnan al-Zurufi, the governor of Najaf province, Friday announced Iraqi forces would move into the center of Kufa and Najaf City and U.S. troops will retreat to the periphery.
Al-Sadr's forces had said they would leave when indigenous forces took control of the streets.
Senor said coalition forces are engaging in joint patrols with Iraqis and will continue to act and react as they see fit. He said the coalition continues to maintain that al-Sadr, wanted in connection with the killing of a rival cleric, should be brought to justice, and that the militia should be disbanded and disarmed.
Senor said the effort would be reviewed 72 hours after its Friday night implementation.
"Just because we are making progress in Najaf and Kufa does not mean that Muqtada al-Sadr can withdraw his forces, redeploy them in another part of the country, and we will ignore them.