Iraqi FM pledges "fight to end" with Sadrists

By Suleiman al-Khalidi

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - The Iraqi government is resolved to win a "fight to the end" against the Shi'ite Mehdi Army militia in the south of the country, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Friday.

He told Reuters the authorities had no choice but to continue a four-day crackdown on the militias loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in and around Basra, Iraq's second city. Government forces have so far failed to drive Sadrist fighters off the streets.

"It was bound to happen. It was a long overdue confrontation in my view and the government has taken a decision to defeat them and it is irreversible," Zebari said.

"Definitely this is a fight to the end. Otherwise there will be no government authority there," he added in an interview in Damascus ahead of a weekend Arab summit.

Zebari said there could be no dialogue with the Sadrist militias while the fighting continued. They had grown in influence and became emboldened by local authorities in Basra, who "accommodated them and reached out to them," he added.

"These militias, organised gangs, have tried to dominate the situation in Basra and tried to control some of the vital installations... They have been involved in smuggling oil and organised crime and infiltration of government installations and encouraging corruption on many levels, " Zebari said.

He said the background to the fighting was complicated by rivalry between Shi'ite militias competing for power and influence in southern districts ahead of provincial elections next October.

But there were no signs so far of any Iranian role in fuelling the conflict despite Iran's extensive influence in mainly Shi'ite southern Iraq, the minister added.