' ▁al - S adr . ▁ ▁Initial ly ▁hope ful ▁that ▁al - S ist ani ▁would ▁force ▁al - S adr ▁to ▁capit ulate , ▁the ▁coal ition ▁was ▁disappoint ed ▁when , ▁while ▁he ▁called ▁for ▁all ▁sides ▁to ▁show ▁rest raint , ▁he ▁focused ▁instead ▁on ▁condem ning ▁coal ition ▁activities ▁in ▁Fall uj ah . ▁In ▁mid - May ▁ 2 0 0 4 , ▁a ▁U . S . ▁lead ▁force ▁began ▁pushing ▁into ▁Naj af . ▁In ▁the ▁process , ▁they ▁inv aded ▁several ▁mos ques ▁to ▁se ize ▁weapon ry , ▁and ▁there ▁were ▁reports ▁of ▁damage ▁to ▁some ▁of ▁Sh ia ▁Islam ' s ▁h oli est ▁shr ines . ▁U . S . ▁forces , ▁using ▁their ▁superior ▁fire power ▁and ▁air ▁support , ▁inf lic ted ▁a ▁steady ▁stream ▁of ▁al - M ah di ▁army ▁cas ual ties ; ▁al - S adr ▁and ▁hospital ▁officials ▁disput ed ▁the ▁numbers , ▁and ▁both ▁claimed ▁that ▁many ▁of ▁them ▁were ▁civ ili ans . ▁The ▁al - M ah di ▁were ▁only ▁able ▁to ▁inf lict ▁few ▁American ▁cas ual ties , ▁but ▁on ▁ 1 7 ▁May , ▁it ▁was ▁reported ▁that ▁the ▁Al - Mad hi ▁army ▁drove ▁Italian ▁troops ▁from ▁their ▁base ▁in ▁N asi ri y ah . ▁Ten ▁It ali ans ▁were ▁wounded , ▁along ▁with ▁ 2 0 ▁al - M ah di ▁army ▁f igh ters ▁wounded ▁and ▁two ▁killed , ▁in ▁the ▁assault .