From the Guardian no lessIraqi government forces entered a Shia militant stronghold in the southern city of Basra today, which has been rocked by fierce internecine clashes in recent weeks.
The move against the Mahdi army, the militia supporting the Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, comes a day after the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, returned to Baghdad after spending a week in Basra overseeing a crackdown against Shia militants.
The losers are occupying the winners, go figure!
As the convoy of army and police forces, led by Lieutenant-General Mohan al-Fireji, entered the Hayaniyah area of the city, the troops began shooting into the air in a show of force.
Killing clouds is an Arab specialty