Iraqi National Guardsmen surrounded the sacred Imam Ali Shrine in the city of Najaf on Tuesday and were just meters away from the holy site, where militants fighting U.S. forces have been holed up for weeks, Iraqi Defense Minister Hazem Shaalan said. However, a raid into the shrine was not imminent, he told Al-Arabiya television. Witnesses in Najaf said the Iraqi forces accompanied U.S. troops into the Old City for the first time in recent days on Tuesday and were stationed about 200 meters (yards) from the shrine. "Today, they complete the operation of encircling the shrine compound," Shaalan said. "The decisive hours are near," he added.
