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Article: IRAQ - Shi'ite Power Struggle.
- Article from:
- APS Diplomat Redrawing the Islamic Map
- Article date:
- November 7, 2005
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There is a recurring power struggle in Najaf, the holiest city in Ja'fari Shi'ism, between two Shi'ite Arab religious parties: Jaysh al-Mahdi militia forces of the radical mullah Muqtada al-Sadr, who in 2004 engaged in fierce firefights with US troops, and the ruling Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) of Abdel Aziz al-Hakim. Now in the shadow of the city's gold dome and tile porticoes of the Imam Ali Shrine, a barely restrained tension between SCIRI and Sadr supporters continues.
At the national level, the two groups joined the United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) last week to run in the Dec. 15 elections. But in the streets of Najaf, that unity is ...