Iraqi troops move into Sadr City neighborhood

BAGHDAD – Sadr City residents awoke Tuesday to a sight many had not seen in years: Iraqi soldiers deployed in the deepest reaches of the Baghdad district that is a bastion of militiamen loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

U.S. and Iraqi officials declared the operation, which took place after negotiations with al-Sadr’s followers and met with no resistance, a turning point in efforts to restore government authority in areas long controlled by armed factions.

But it remains to be seen how al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia responds when the Iraqi troops begin searching for weapons and detaining fighters.

U.S. military officials say those being pursued are members of breakaway factions of the militia that have disregarded the cleric’s orders to set aside their guns.

While al-Sadr loyalists say they are prepared to hand over security responsibility in the district to the Iraqi police and army, the cleric has rejected the government’s demands to disband his militia. His followers have also made clear that the truce does not extend to the U.S. military.

“I do not think this is the last of the Mahdi Army,” said Vali Nasr, an expert on Shiite politics at Tufts University. “It will lay low until the dust clears.”

Before dawn Tuesday, columns of Iraqi Humvees and tanks, backed by helicopters, lumbered down streets lined with charred buildings and piles of rubble in a campaign code-named Operation Peace.

U.S. forces did not accompany the Iraqi troops.

Al-Sadr’s representatives in the neighborhood, which is named after the cleric’s revered father who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s regime, welcomed the Iraqi soldiers and presented them with copies of the Quran.

“There is no problem with the Iraqi forces’ operations today in Sadr City, as long as these forces respect the rights of civilians,” said Sheik Salah Obeidi, spokesman for al-Sadr’s movement.

A national crackdown against Shiite militants began far more violently in late March when Iraqi forces launched a hard-fought campaign in the southern oil hub of Basra that later drew in American and British forces.

That operation triggered a backlash by al-Sadr’s followers in Sadr City and other parts of the capital that resulted in hundreds of deaths. Al-Sadr’s representatives accused members of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s governing Shiite alliance of using the crackdown to weaken the cleric’s movement ahead of upcoming provincial elections.

The level of violence in Sadr City dropped after representatives of the main Shiite political factions signed a truce May 12.

Four days later, Iraqi forces began clearing more than 100 bombs from the outskirts of Sadr City in preparation to move in, set up patrol stations and restore services, said Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, an Iraqi military spokesman. He said the deployment took an hour to complete and met no resistance.

U.S. forces are stationed nearby in case they are needed, al-Moussawi said.