U.S. Troops Back Off at Shrine

More than 150 hard-line Iraqi fighters remained shuttered Thursday inside the gold-domed Mosque of Ali, while hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Najaf to keep U.S. troops from entering the Muslim shrine.

An uneasy peace finally descended on this holy city in southern Iraq, with U.S. troops pulling back from the mosque after the loyalists defied orders to abandon it.

“The city OK, the Mosque of Ali no!” residents chanted before calm was restored.

U.S. helicopters flew above the shrine, dropping leaflets urging surrender by the barricaded members of the ruling Baath Party and the Fedayeen Saddam paramilitary force.

Abdel Majid Khoei, who arrived in Najaf on Thursday, said local Shiite Muslim leaders were trying to negotiate a deal under which Iraqi loyalists would leave the mosque in return for safe passage out of the city. Khoei heads a London-based philanthropic group, and his father was a revered Shiite leader who died in 1993.

Any damage to the shrine by U.S. forces could ignite rage in the Islamic world. The Ali Mosque holds the tomb of one of the Shiites’ most revered leaders, Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib, the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law.

With its silver-covered tomb, ceramic-ornamented walls and resplendent golden dome and minarets, the shrine is considered a treasure of Islamic art.

U.S. troops imposed full control over Najaf except for the shrine and the surrounding streets, Khoei said. Most local residents seemed unaffected by the military presence but were adamant about keeping the soldiers away from the mosque.

“We will try to reopen the government offices, hospitals and the markets,” Khoei said. “A lot of the people are in dire need of food and medicine after the city was besieged for a full week.”

On Wednesday, U.S. officials accused Iraqi forces of firing on allied troops from inside the mosque. Brooks called the shooting “a detestable example of putting historical sites in danger” and said U.S.-led forces refused to return fire.

For the world’s nearly 120 million Shiites, Najaf is the third-holiest city, behind Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

Najaf, whose name in Arabic means “a high land,” is about 100 miles south of Baghdad on a high desert plateau overlooking the world’s largest cemetery, where many Shiites aspire to bury their dead.

Najaf is also the seat of the Shiites’ spiritual leaders, known as ayatollahs, and a center for scientific, literary and theological studies for the Islamic world.

U.S.-led troops first occupied the city Wednesday, reportedly welcomed by a crowd of cheering Iraqi civilians. That attitude could change if anything were to happen to the mosque.