A day after holding back from a full-scale assault on Najaf’s old city, American troops began offensive operations today in an attempt to set up a cordon around the old city’s outer limits. The aim of the cordon appeared to be to seal off the Imam Ali shrine, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest sites, where forces loyal to the rebel cleric Moktada al-Sadr are holed up. No American forces were closer than 1920 Revolution Square, a mile east of the shrine, which commanders have said they are at pains not to damage for fear of infuriating Iraq’s majority Shiites.Full Story
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