[19] Iraqi forces faced heavy resistance from Mahdi Army militia inside the city and the offensive stalled, requiring American and British air and artillery support, eventually resulting in a stand-off.

[20] Following a ceasefire negotiated in Iran on 31 March, Muqtada al-Sadr withdrew his fighters from the streets, but had gained a major political victory.

However, the Iraqi Army, reinforced with brigades from other parts of Iraq, including the 1st Division from al-Anbar, continued to carry out slower, more deliberate clearing operations in militia strongholds.

The Mahdi Army also enforced strict Islamic rule in Basra, threatening women for wearing makeup and punishing individuals for playing secular Western and Arabic music.

[19] In February 2008, Muqtada al-Sadr's followers renewed a ceasefire which had been declared in August 2007, under which they pledged not to attack rival armed groups or American forces in Iraq.

On Thursday, 20 March, Lt General Mohan al-Furayji warned his troops to prepare for a "final battle" in Basra to defeat Shia militia before provincial elections in October later that year.

[29] On 22 March, the Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki met with the commander of US forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus.

[30] The Mahdi Army had long been well-entrenched in their districts with sniper positions, ambush sites, roadside bombs and booby trapped buildings.

[31] Many of the young men and children who lived in these camps were recruited by Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps in anticipation of repatriation back into Iraq.

Shortly after, fighting erupted and the clashes later spread to five other neighbourhoods, including al-Jumhuriya, Five Miles and al-Hayania, the Mahdi Army's main stronghold in Basra.

[34] Nassar al-Rubaie, an official in al-Sadr's political movement, accused the Iraqi government of trying to weaken the Sadr trend ahead of provincial elections.

[35] In response to the fighting the political movement of powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr launched a nationwide civil disobedience campaign across Iraq to protest the raids and detentions against the Mahdi Army.

[36] By late in the evening, the assault on the port city stalled, as Shiite militiamen in the Mahdi Army fought day-long hit-and-run battles and refused to withdraw from their positions.

The air strikes, which occurred at 21:00 on Thursday and shortly after midnight involved US Navy or Marine F/A-18 fighters firing cannon rounds at a militia stronghold and on a mortar team in Basra.

Major Holloway reported coalition aircraft had been flying surveillance operations over Basra since the beginning of the fighting in support of the Iraqi offensive.

[45] By this point, the Iraqi military offensive against the city was faltering in the face of stiff resistance, as the 72-hour ultimatum by the government passed and the militants refused to surrender.

"[48] On 30 March, militia fighters stormed a state TV facility in Basra forcing Iraqi military guards surrounding the building to flee and setting armored vehicles on fire.

[53] According to a spokesman for Nouri Al Maliki, Iraqi troops and police were in control of much of Basra, and local security forces were going house-to-house in some districts to confiscate weapons.

That is a harder sell, given that Iran has supported Iraq’s government.After the battle, the Iraqi government dismissed 1,300 soldiers and policemen who deserted or refused to fight during the operation.

[63] Oliver North, host of the Fox News program War Stories, contacted some of the Coalition personnel with whom their team was embedded with in December 2007 during the show's ninth trip to Iraq.

Conventional Iraqi Army and police units operated effectively together in multiple large-scale, simultaneous urban combat for the first time.

The Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) and Hillah SWAT units, with which we were embedded in December, killed or captured more than 200 "high profile criminals" for which they had arrest warrants.

Though the ISF lacks the sophisticated casualty evacuation and medical treatment available to U.S. troops, their compassion toward wounded and injured non-combatants rallied civilians to the side of the Iraqi government.

The Iraqi interior ministry chief, Maj. General Abdul-Kareem Khalaf, claimed 210 militiamen killed, 600 wounded and 155 captured since the beginning of the operation.