Iraqis March To Najaf After Sistani’s Plea
Additional Reporting By Aws Al-Sharqy, IOL Correspondent
BASRA, August 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Hordes of Iraqis marched to Najaf Wednesday, August 25, responding to a plea by Iraq ’s top Shiite scholar Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani to “save the city and end the US siege on its holiest shrine”.
Sistani arrived back in the country earlier in the day, calling on Iraqis to be ready to join a mass rally to Najaf as fighting around Imam Ali shrine neared a climax.
Cars carrying loudspeakers were seen roaming streets of southern Iraqi cities for rallying supporters. Calls came for forming convoys to break the seal-off of Najaf – which has been pounded by US warplanes and helicopter gunships for several days now.
“We began forming convoys, dozens of which already left for Najaf and others are on standby for further deployment”, Sheikh Abdel-Hai Jawwad, a member of the Sadr office in Kadhemiya, told IslamOnline.net.
Jawwad accused the US occupation forces and Iraqi police of attempting to “cleanse Iraqi fighters opposed to the occupation of the country” in Najaf.
“Najaf turned into bloodbath, with explosions crackling everywhere and US warplanes pounding all areas, especially around Imam Ali Shrine”, Hamid Al-Hashimi, a journalist in the city, told IOL over the phone.
Young Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army are reportedly fighting pitched battles with US and Iraqi government forces inside the mausoleum.
Saving Najaf
Sistani, who underwent medical treatment in London, crossed into Iraq from Kuwait and was now resting in a villa owned by his representative in the southern city of Basra.
One of his senior aides said from London that Sistani intended to “save the city" of Najaf.
“I have had the honor to meet and accompany Sistani, who arrived at the border at 11:00 am (0700 GMT)”, said Brigadier General Ali Al-Mussawi, head of Iraqi border police in Basra.
“Sistani is still in Basra under the protection of border guards. He is in the home of Abdel Hakim al-Safi Al-Mussawi”, Sistani’s top representative in the city, Mussawi added.
Haider Al-Safi Al-Mussawi, a son of Sistani's Basra representative, added that the Iranian-born ayatollah had returned to tackle the situation in An-Najaf.
“I've come for the Najaf crisis”, he quoted Sistani as having said.
The latest fighting broke out three weeks ago, and saw US and Iraqi government troops gradually tighten their grip around the complex, at the risk of sparking Shiite anger by damaging the building.
Najaf March
U.S. Army Bradley fighting vehicles patrol in central Najaf
Hamad Al-Khaffaf, another top aide to Sistani, said the Shiite leader has earlier urged all Iraqis to march towards the holy city.
“We call on all Iraqis ... of Baghdad, Hilla, Karbala, Basra, Diwaniyah, Amara, Kut, Kirkuk, Mosul, Baquba and all Iraq, to be ready to return to Najaf. An initiative will be announced when we arrive in An-Najaf”, Khaffaf told Al-Arabiya news channel.
“Now, our call to Imam Ali bin Abi Taleb, is as follows: We are sorry that your sacred shrine has been tarnished and violated.”
In Baghdad , hundreds of Shiite faithful left for An-Najaf to answer Sistani's call.
“Everybody respects the Marjaiya (the highest Shiite authority) and everybody is heading there to save An-Najaf”, said Haitham Muhsin, 32, who heard the call over Arab television.
“Death is the same, whether I'm here or in Najaf. As Shiites our dream is to die and be buried there”, he added.
Nawar Hussein, 18, said his mother had not tried to sop him marching for peace.
“On the contrary, she told me well done and be careful and let God be with you.”
And after hearing Sistani was in Basra , hundreds of delighted people flocked to the villa here where the scholar was staying, waving Iraqi flags, vowing to fight a jihad against the US-led occupation troops at the command of their spiritual leader.
Fighting Suspended
Meanwhile, the Mahdi Army announced the suspension of all military operations in southern Iraq to mark the arrival of Sistani.
“The Mahdi Army also announces the suspension of all military operations in the provinces where Ayatollah Sistani will pass”, Sheikh Aws Al-Khafagi, head of Sadr's office in the southern city of Nasiriyah, told Aljazeera satellite channel.
He did not explicitly say if the truce would cover Najaf itself.
A US plane fired a missile just meters west of it on Wednesday, making the building tremble and filling it with dust, according to an AFP correspondent inside.
Al-Jazeera satellite channel broadcast Monday, August 23, footage of slight damage done to the outer wall of the Imam Ali mosque by the US bombardment on Sunday night. http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-08/23/article01.shtml
US forces trapped hundreds of Sadr’s fighters the Imam Ali shrine Wednesday, firing airborne missiles.
With American snipers posted on rooftops and firing at anyone who tried to enter of leave, Mahdi Army fighters barricaded themselves behind the mausoleum's bolted doors.
To the heavy boom of artillery fire outside and with the sound of Mahdi Army retaliation growing less and less by the hour, medics launched a desperate appeal to the Iraqi government for emergency relief.
Doctors in a makeshift clinic, lacking surgeons and blood supplies, told an AFP correspondent, one of only three newsmen in the shrine, that at least 30 patients with serious injuries needed immediate evacuation.
Dozens of other wounded civilians were feared trapped in nearby houses, unable to be brought even to the shrine for fear of US sniper and tank fire.
Glass had shattered in the ceiling of part of the prayer room where most of the wounded were laid out under fans, moaning in pain and on blood-stained blankets.
All streets into the Old City around the shrine area had been blocked off and police dropped pamphlets urging people to use between a path of "peace" and that of “terror and fear”.
IslamOnline http://www.islamonline.net
Please also see:
Najaf bombed, Al-Sistani calls for march
Wednesday 25 August 2004, 23:18 Makka Time, 20:18 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/42D1E168-48B9-401C-B00F-4F6933CA44CE.htm
'Ending Iraqi insurgency could take upto 10 yrs'
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-824842.cms
The US Invasion of Iraq
was perhaps the most cowardly War ever fought in History
by Arundhati Roy
Transcript of talk by Arundhati Roy, United For Peace and Justice teach-in, Washington, DC, 31 May 2003.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/ROY306A.html
UPDATES
US attacks Najaf as UK escorts al-Sistani
Thursday 26 August 2004, 11:50 Makka Time, 8:50 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FBFA29F3-179B-436A-9CBB-37BFD56E31A5.htm
Mosque Hit in Kufa, Ceasefire Expected in Najaf
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-08/26/article01.shtml
Sistani in Last Ditch Talks to Save Najaf
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-08/26/article07.shtml
Al-Sistani arrives in Najaf
Thursday 26 August 2004, 19:36 Makka Time, 16:36 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/73FBE4AE-3CA1-474B-99B1-D52C12B4DC51.htm
Al-Sadr, al-Sistani near Najaf agreement
Thursday 26 August 2004, 23:42 Makka Time, 20:42 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/358F84DD-BBB7-473B-A514-1FE27A11292F.htm
Additional Reporting By Aws Al-Sharqy, IOL Correspondent
BASRA, August 25 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Hordes of Iraqis marched to Najaf Wednesday, August 25, responding to a plea by Iraq ’s top Shiite scholar Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani to “save the city and end the US siege on its holiest shrine”.
Sistani arrived back in the country earlier in the day, calling on Iraqis to be ready to join a mass rally to Najaf as fighting around Imam Ali shrine neared a climax.
Cars carrying loudspeakers were seen roaming streets of southern Iraqi cities for rallying supporters. Calls came for forming convoys to break the seal-off of Najaf – which has been pounded by US warplanes and helicopter gunships for several days now.
“We began forming convoys, dozens of which already left for Najaf and others are on standby for further deployment”, Sheikh Abdel-Hai Jawwad, a member of the Sadr office in Kadhemiya, told IslamOnline.net.
Jawwad accused the US occupation forces and Iraqi police of attempting to “cleanse Iraqi fighters opposed to the occupation of the country” in Najaf.
“Najaf turned into bloodbath, with explosions crackling everywhere and US warplanes pounding all areas, especially around Imam Ali Shrine”, Hamid Al-Hashimi, a journalist in the city, told IOL over the phone.
Young Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr's Mahdi Army are reportedly fighting pitched battles with US and Iraqi government forces inside the mausoleum.
Saving Najaf
Sistani, who underwent medical treatment in London, crossed into Iraq from Kuwait and was now resting in a villa owned by his representative in the southern city of Basra.
One of his senior aides said from London that Sistani intended to “save the city" of Najaf.
“I have had the honor to meet and accompany Sistani, who arrived at the border at 11:00 am (0700 GMT)”, said Brigadier General Ali Al-Mussawi, head of Iraqi border police in Basra.
“Sistani is still in Basra under the protection of border guards. He is in the home of Abdel Hakim al-Safi Al-Mussawi”, Sistani’s top representative in the city, Mussawi added.
Haider Al-Safi Al-Mussawi, a son of Sistani's Basra representative, added that the Iranian-born ayatollah had returned to tackle the situation in An-Najaf.
“I've come for the Najaf crisis”, he quoted Sistani as having said.
The latest fighting broke out three weeks ago, and saw US and Iraqi government troops gradually tighten their grip around the complex, at the risk of sparking Shiite anger by damaging the building.
Najaf March
U.S. Army Bradley fighting vehicles patrol in central Najaf
Hamad Al-Khaffaf, another top aide to Sistani, said the Shiite leader has earlier urged all Iraqis to march towards the holy city.
“We call on all Iraqis ... of Baghdad, Hilla, Karbala, Basra, Diwaniyah, Amara, Kut, Kirkuk, Mosul, Baquba and all Iraq, to be ready to return to Najaf. An initiative will be announced when we arrive in An-Najaf”, Khaffaf told Al-Arabiya news channel.
“Now, our call to Imam Ali bin Abi Taleb, is as follows: We are sorry that your sacred shrine has been tarnished and violated.”
In Baghdad , hundreds of Shiite faithful left for An-Najaf to answer Sistani's call.
“Everybody respects the Marjaiya (the highest Shiite authority) and everybody is heading there to save An-Najaf”, said Haitham Muhsin, 32, who heard the call over Arab television.
“Death is the same, whether I'm here or in Najaf. As Shiites our dream is to die and be buried there”, he added.
Nawar Hussein, 18, said his mother had not tried to sop him marching for peace.
“On the contrary, she told me well done and be careful and let God be with you.”
And after hearing Sistani was in Basra , hundreds of delighted people flocked to the villa here where the scholar was staying, waving Iraqi flags, vowing to fight a jihad against the US-led occupation troops at the command of their spiritual leader.
Fighting Suspended
Meanwhile, the Mahdi Army announced the suspension of all military operations in southern Iraq to mark the arrival of Sistani.
“The Mahdi Army also announces the suspension of all military operations in the provinces where Ayatollah Sistani will pass”, Sheikh Aws Al-Khafagi, head of Sadr's office in the southern city of Nasiriyah, told Aljazeera satellite channel.
He did not explicitly say if the truce would cover Najaf itself.
A US plane fired a missile just meters west of it on Wednesday, making the building tremble and filling it with dust, according to an AFP correspondent inside.
Al-Jazeera satellite channel broadcast Monday, August 23, footage of slight damage done to the outer wall of the Imam Ali mosque by the US bombardment on Sunday night. http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-08/23/article01.shtml
US forces trapped hundreds of Sadr’s fighters the Imam Ali shrine Wednesday, firing airborne missiles.
With American snipers posted on rooftops and firing at anyone who tried to enter of leave, Mahdi Army fighters barricaded themselves behind the mausoleum's bolted doors.
To the heavy boom of artillery fire outside and with the sound of Mahdi Army retaliation growing less and less by the hour, medics launched a desperate appeal to the Iraqi government for emergency relief.
Doctors in a makeshift clinic, lacking surgeons and blood supplies, told an AFP correspondent, one of only three newsmen in the shrine, that at least 30 patients with serious injuries needed immediate evacuation.
Dozens of other wounded civilians were feared trapped in nearby houses, unable to be brought even to the shrine for fear of US sniper and tank fire.
Glass had shattered in the ceiling of part of the prayer room where most of the wounded were laid out under fans, moaning in pain and on blood-stained blankets.
All streets into the Old City around the shrine area had been blocked off and police dropped pamphlets urging people to use between a path of "peace" and that of “terror and fear”.
IslamOnline http://www.islamonline.net
Please also see:
Najaf bombed, Al-Sistani calls for march
Wednesday 25 August 2004, 23:18 Makka Time, 20:18 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/42D1E168-48B9-401C-B00F-4F6933CA44CE.htm
'Ending Iraqi insurgency could take upto 10 yrs'
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-824842.cms
The US Invasion of Iraq
was perhaps the most cowardly War ever fought in History
by Arundhati Roy
Transcript of talk by Arundhati Roy, United For Peace and Justice teach-in, Washington, DC, 31 May 2003.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/ROY306A.html
UPDATES
US attacks Najaf as UK escorts al-Sistani
Thursday 26 August 2004, 11:50 Makka Time, 8:50 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FBFA29F3-179B-436A-9CBB-37BFD56E31A5.htm
Mosque Hit in Kufa, Ceasefire Expected in Najaf
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-08/26/article01.shtml
Sistani in Last Ditch Talks to Save Najaf
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-08/26/article07.shtml
Al-Sistani arrives in Najaf
Thursday 26 August 2004, 19:36 Makka Time, 16:36 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/73FBE4AE-3CA1-474B-99B1-D52C12B4DC51.htm
Al-Sadr, al-Sistani near Najaf agreement
Thursday 26 August 2004, 23:42 Makka Time, 20:42 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/358F84DD-BBB7-473B-A514-1FE27A11292F.htm