[jaguar]

He doesn't have widespread support, even among sh'ai muslims (the whole temple base thing didn't help, neither did other assholes stuff like using a hospital roof to fire mortars causing the hospital to be bombed) and the estimate number of fighters is well under 500. The problem is if they do attack the will damage the shrine and that will cause one hell of a uproar they cannot afford, British commanders have said off the record that in the event of a general sh'ia uprising they will be forced to leave immediately. The militia is also vastly outnumbered by the number of very pissed off (with everyone) civvies in the area, it's basically a military worst case scenario - close combat urban fighting with a holy site thrown in. While all the glass the city bullshit sure sounds tough it would be the start of the complete downfall of the occupation in a massive gurrilla war with the most likely outcome being the majority of the country becoming a Sh'ia theocracy.