Sadrist Splits.

The first post-Saddam split in Sadr's movement occurred in late April 2003, when a serious dispute developed between Muqtada and Ayatullah Muhammad al-Ya'qubi over discipline and distribution of decision-making in the movement. Muqtada's refusal to instill more discipline led Ya'qubi (who was a close companion of the slain Muhammad-Sadeq) to break away and establish the Hizb al-Fadhila al-Islamiyah (Islamic Virtue Party). Now led by Abdel-Rahim al-Husseini, Fadhila holds 15 seats in parliament, where it operates under the Shi'ite-led United Iraqi Alliance (UIA).

Fadhila's strongholds are in Basra and surrounding areas, where they co-operate with the British. Fadhila is said to be one of the few British success stories in the south. But Fadhila is an exception in the pattern of fragmentation over the past four years.

Splits from the Sadr movement since mid-2003 have not led to credible independent groups as in the case of Fadhila). Instead, dissident and rogue elements have opted to create small, autonomous militia structures while nominally swearing loyalty to Muqtada. Others have degenerated into millenarian cults which see military power as the most effective method of challenging the orthodoxy of Najaf's clerical elite.

One example was Dhia' Abdul-Zahra and his Soldiers of Heaven cult which engaged Iraqi and US forces in a fierce battle on the outskirts of Najaf in late January this year. The Iraqi government alleged that Abdul-Zahra's forces intended to attack the seminaries of Najaf and assassinate top Shi'ite clerics on the eve of the Ashura commemorations. Abdul-Zahra and more than 250 of his fighters were killed in the fierce battle.

Another splinter group from the Sadrists is Shaikh Mahmoud al-Hassani al-Sarkhi's Army of Hussein. Sarkhi's followers gained prominence after they attacked the Iranian consulates in Basra and Karbala' last year in response to alleged Iranian "insults" directed at Sarkhi. Sarkhi calls himself an ayatullah, a title many religious Shi'ites strongly contest.

Despite their different motivations, splinter groups from the Sadrists are strongly anti-Iran. These groups accuse Muqtada and his close advisers of betraying the Iraqi nationalist credentials of the Sadr movement by getting too close to Iran.

The continuous splits have had the opposite effect of drawing Muqtada and the core of his JaM closer to Iran. Muqtada now looks to Iran as the movement's ultimate protector in the face of the US and numerous other enemies, who include sections of the Iraqi government, al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Arab Sunni guerrilla movement and Sadr dissidents.

Whereas Hizbullah in Lebanon scrupulously avoids assassinating political rivals in a country where such incidents are common, JaM is widely said to be the main force behind the sectarian Shi'ite death squads in Baghdad and elsewhere. The Sadrist movement's religious-charitable organisations are nowhere near as sophisticated and prolific as Hizbullah's.

The Sadrist movement and its JaM involve young men and immature organisations, whereas Hizbullah in Lebanon has had more than 20 years to fine-tune its systems and politics.