April 3 - Shi'ite Muslim cleric asking his millions of followers to
remain neutral in any fighting has undermined Baghdad's hopes
of unleashing "holy war" to expel U.S. and British invaders,
experts believe.
According to experts on Shi'ite Islam, word from Grand
Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani was also likely to ease tensions
around Iraq's holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala, scenes of tough
fighting earlier in the week, and to limit the risk of clashes
between ordinary believers and U.S.-led soldiers.
"Neither the occupying army nor the local officials, in the
presence of such an ayatollah, have authority more legitimate
than his," said Hamid Dabashi, a professor at Columbia
University and an expert on the Shi'ites and their world.
Such "guidance" to followers should soothe fears of
religiously motivated attacks on U.S.-led troops, Dabashi said.
However, he said the call may be short-lived.
Murtadha al-Kashmiri, a London representative of Sistani,
said the cleric had asked followers not to take sides in the
fighting. He denied earlier reports he had issued a fatwa, or
formal religious edict.
"According to the information we received, there is no
fatwa referring to Americans or Iraq, but he has asked people
to remain neutral and not get involved," Kashmiri said.
Under Shi'ite religious law, the Ayatollah's authority
outranks that of Iraq's secular authorities, including
President Saddam Hussein, as well as that of any invading
general or army commander.
U.S. officers, who have given orders to avoid damage to
holy sites for fear of inflaming anti-Western sentiment among
Iraq's persecuted Shi'ite majority, welcomed the ayatollah's
position.

'SIGNIFICANT TURNING POINT'
"We believe this is a very significant turning point and
another indicator that the Iraqi regime is approaching its
end," Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks told reporters in Qatar.
But Dabashi said the call could be a tactic, or even a
ruse, to protect the sacred sites and the true believers from
harm at the hands of the invading armies. Religious law allows
Sistani to resort to "taqiyah," or dissembling for the good of
the faith, to achieve those goals.
A fatwa from Sistani, issued earlier while he was under the
control of Iraqi government agents, directed the people to
resist efforts to topple Saddam.
Iraq's Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said
that decree still stood. "As Muslims, their fatwa is to resist
the American mercenary forces -- they are evil -- and to
consider them invaders who should be resisted," he told
al-Jazeera television.
Earlier on Thursday, the Shi'ite Al Khoei foundation in
London said Sistani had issued a formal fatwa, directing
believers to cooperate with the American-led forces. It was not
possible to contact Sistani himself, who has until recently
lived under house arrest on Saddam's orders.
Ayatollah Sistani, whose followers pay him religious taxes
and look to him for spiritual and practical guidance, is the
supreme religious authority at the al-Hawza al-Ilmiyya
theological school in Najaf.
He is also responsible for the shrine of Imam Ali, the
son-in-law of the Prophet and the first leader of the Shi'ite
community -- a site sacred to Shi'ites around the world,
including more than 60 million believers in neighboring Iran.
Iraq is ruled by the pan-Arab Baath Party, which has
traditionally espoused secular nationalist ideology, but at
times of crisis Saddam -- himself a Sunni Muslim -- has invoked
religious faith to bolster his policies.
A Reuters correspondent in Najaf, about 100 miles (160 km)
south of Baghdad, said U.S. troops moved into the center of the
city, alarming some residents near the Ali shrine.
CNN footage showed soldiers trying to calm the crowd, who
apparently feared they were planning to seize the shrine. The
scene ended peacefully, as the U.S. troops gently pulled back,
and a cleric in a white turban tried to reassure the people.
U.S. military sources told Reuters members of the 101st
Airborne had been in talks with Sistani about how to govern
Najaf in the absence of pro-Saddam forces. "I think he realized
we really are here to help Iraqi people," said one source.

* Huge explosion and anti-aircraft fire rock central
Baghdad, U.S. says almost 40 "smart bombs" dropped overnight on
a military store in the city
* U.S. forces advance to within 30 km (19 miles) of southern
edge of Baghdad, military says
* Iraqi TV shows Saddam laughing with ministers
* U.S. says hits Medina and Baghdad divisions of Republican
Guard; Iraq denies Baghdad division near Kut destroyed
* U.S. air raid damages Baghdad maternity hospital, hits
trade fair complex; several killed and at least 25 wounded,
hospital sources and witnesses say

QUOTES
Saddam in a letter to his niece, quoted by Iraqi state
television: "Damn them (the U.S.-led invaders), and by God,
there will be thousands of soldiers fighting for what is right,
virtue and faith in defence of the land of prophets and holy
places, of belief and devotion."

EVENTS (TIMES IN GMT)

Thursday -
* Powell meets EU officials and NATO foreign ministers in
Brussels, joint news conference with NATO Secretary-General
George Robertson at 1430

Friday -
* Foreign ministers of France, Germany and Russia expected
to meet in Paris to discuss Iraq crisis
* Blix takes part in Stockholm seminar on world after war in
Iraq

CASUALTIES
* U.S. - 53 killed, 11 missing
* Britain - 27 killed
* Iraqi military - no confirmed figures
* Iraqi civilians (Iraqi estimates) - at least 677 killed,
5,062 injured

MILITARY ACTION
BAGHDAD: U.S. drop "smart bombs" on targets in Baghdad and
on control centre southwest of the city.
U.S. troops advance towards Baghdad on two fronts against
Republican Guard to within 30 km (19 miles) of southern edge of
capital
U.S. warplanes damage Red Crescent maternity hospital, hit
city's trade fair complex in morning bombing, witnesses say
several people killed
B-52s drop cluster bombs on Iraqi tank column guarding city;
first time such bombs have been used
CENTRAL IRAQ: U.S. says American troops destroy the Baghdad
division of Republican Guard near Kut, southeast of capital;
Iraq denies that U.S. Marines secured a key bridge over Tigris
Units with U.S. 3rd Infantry cross Euphrates north of
Kerbala, secure territory on east bank
Euphrates dam seized by U.S. troops northwest of Baghdad
SOUTHERN IRAQ: U.S. Marines capture bridge on Tigris for key
crossing
NORTHERN IRAQ: U.S. planes bomb troops in Kurdish-held
northern Iraq, forcing them to retreat in several areas;
Turkish-registered trucks with U.S. escort head towards Iraqi
front line

April 2 - U.S. forces
thrust toward Baghdad on Wednesday, smashing two of Iraq's
elite Republican Guard divisions, and the Pentagon said they
were now "threatening the core of the regime" of President
Saddam Hussein.
Backed by fearsome air power, U.S. armored forces moved on
the Iraqi capital from two directions. U.S. forces also seized
a dam over the Euphrates River northwest of Baghdad.
"The dagger is clearly pointed at the heart of the Baghdad
regime," U.S. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said.
Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, vice director for operations
for the U.S. military's Joint Staff, said two of the six
Republican Guard divisions that had been guarding the
approaches to Baghdad had effectively ceased to exist as viable
military forces after days of pulverizing air strikes preceding
the ground attack.
"I would say that the Medina and Baghdad divisions are no
longer credible forces," McChrystal said. "It's clearly
threatening Baghdad and threatening the core of the regime."
Although the Pentagon officially said U.S. troops were now
30 miles (48 km) from Baghdad, a military source told a Reuters
correspondent with the 3rd Infantry that vanguard units were 10
miles (16 km) closer to the southern edges of the capital of
some 5 million people.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned that
difficult fighting lay ahead as U.S. forces attempted to break
into the capital.
A huge explosion rocked central Baghdad early on Thursday
and blasts shook the south of the city.
U.S. war headquarters in Qatar said U.S.-led forces dropped
almost 40 "smart bombs" overnight on a military storage
facility in the Karkh district of Baghdad.

PREPARING FOR URBAN WARFARE
City defenders have been preparing for urban warfare.
Pick-up trucks equipped with machine guns and anti-aircraft
guns are dotted across the city.
U.S. forces would like to avoid street fighting in Baghdad,
which might take a heavy toll in military and civilian
casualties. But planners believe this prospect is increasingly
likely as Saddam prepares to stage his last stand in the city.
McChrystal said the United States had fired 700 cruise
missiles, which cost over $1 million each, and more than 10,000
precision-guided bombs since the war began two weeks ago.
In the north, U.S. planes bombed Iraqi troops, forcing them
to retreat in several areas in such a hurry that they abandoned
valuable supplies of ammunition and injectors containing the
nerve gas antidote atropine. An Iranian cameraman working for
the BBC tripped a mine in the area and was killed.
On the approaches to Baghdad, U.S. Marines seized a vital
bridge over the Tigris river and then pushed along its northern
bank toward the Iraqi capital, while the 3rd Infantry Division
thrust northwards after encircling the Shi'ite Muslim shrine
city of Kerbala.
President George W. Bush launched the war two weeks ago to
oust Saddam and destroy his alleged weapons of mass
destruction. Iraq denied having such weapons and so far none
have been found.
Iraqi television showed Saddam smiling and laughing in a
meeting with ministers, hours after speculation swirled around
world financial markets that he might be dead or wounded. It
was unclear if the pictures were new and the footage did
nothing to diminish such rumors.

MOTORISTS KILLED
In Baghdad, bombs killed several motorists in a blast on a
building that also damaged a Red Crescent hospital across the
street from which patients had earlier been evacuated. At least
five cars were crushed and their drivers burned to death.
Russia called in the U.S. ambassador to Moscow to protest
against air strikes it said had hit Baghdad's residential
districts and endangered the lives of diplomats still working
at its embassy.
In Ankara, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he had
agreed with Turkey on measures to ship supplies through Turkish
territory to U.S. forces fighting in northern Iraq.
Brooks said the thrust toward Baghdad had taken some U.S.
troops across a "red line" -- into the area where the military
believes Iraqi forces might be most likely to launch a
poison-gas attack.
"If it's used, we'll be prepared," he said.
Iraqi official statements disputed reports of U.S.
successes and insisted its soldiers maintained high morale.
Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf said air
strikes had killed 24 civilians and wounded 186 in the past 24
hours, with 10 dead and 90 wounded in Baghdad alone.
It said its military had killed five infantry soldiers in
the last 24 hours from the U.S.-led force, destroyed 11 tanks,
27 armored personnel carriers, a fighter plane, two Apache
helicopters, one unmanned drone and another military vehicle.
U.S. and British forces have reported no such losses.
Iraq says more than 650 civilians have been killed and more
than 4,000 wounded during the war. There is no way to
independently verify these figures and Iraq has not given
information of its military casualties.
The United States lists 53 dead and 11 missing. Britain
says it has suffered 27 dead.
"No matter how many Iraqi civilians they kill, this will
make us even stronger and even more determined to repel the
invasion and to defeat them," Sahaf said.
Sahaf accused the Americans of bombing holy shrines in the
city of Najaf. But Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said
Iraqi forces in Najaf were firing from inside the gold-domed
shrine of Ali, one of the holiest sites for Shi'ite Muslims.
The Americans did not return fire, she said.
U.S. soldier Jessica Lynch, held as a prisoner of war by
Iraq for more than a week until U.S. special forces freed her,
arrived in Germany for treatment at an American military
hospital. She has two broken legs and a broken arm.
((Writing by Alan Elsner; editing by Stuart Doughty; Reuters