⚔Battle of Najaf: Mahdi Army against US forces

From 5 to 27 August 2004 the Mahdi Army under Muqtada al-Sadr fought the American forces and the Iraqi interim government in Najaf around the shrine of Imam Ali and the Wadi al-Salam cemetery, after the April uprising in the southern cities; it ended through the mediation of Sistani, returning from London, and established Sadr as a parallel armed Shia force.