Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr's order to his fighters Sunday to withdraw from the streets of Basra and other contested cities provided some hope that recent fighting across Iraq between U.S.-backed government forces and Shiite fighters -- many of them Sadr supporters -- might be winding down.
The offensive severely strained Iraq's already-creaky oil industry and wreaked havoc on the already tenuous power supply to oil fields, pumping stations and processing plants in the region. In Basra, where the fighting had threatened to cut Iraqi oil exports after a major export pipeline was targeted in attacks, teams from South Oil Co., the state-run production company based in Basra, repaired the line more quickly than expected, and export levels had been restored to normal, according to an official.
If Mr. Sadr's move results in reduced fighting this week, it could provide much-needed breathing room for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and U.S.-led coalition forces, which had been forced in recent days to step up assistance to Iraqi forces. But as our reporters in Iraq write, Mr. Sadr's grip on his own militia, the Mahdi Army, is uncertain. Other, rival militias entrenched in Basra, the oil capital in the south of the country, may ignore the softening rhetoric from both sides.
Read our staff report from Baghdad:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120687940471974931.html?mod=djemasialinks
