Fractious Followers

Friends,
Sad and getting sadder.
Rev O

LT London
"However, the scale of the fighting suggests that even if the movement’s leader Muqtada al-Sadr continues with his strategic decision to enforce a truce, he might be losing his ability to control his often fractious followers.
The fighting was touched off on Tuesday by an Iraqi government operation dubbed Sawlat al-Fursan, or ”Charge of the Knights”, which officials said was directed against ”lawless gangs” in the port city of Basra, where the Sadrists’ Mahdi Army militia and other Shia Islamist groups have feuded violently over the past several years.
But the battles have spread to the Mahdi Army’s main support base in Baghdad, the sprawling slum of Sadr City."
Battle with militia spreads to Baghdad - FT London