By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Thousands of Shi'ite youths, many wearing white shrouds, converged Thursday on Baghdad for a pro-Hizbullah rally.
Radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr summoned his followers around the country to attend a mass rally Friday in the capital's Sadr City district in support of Hizbullah as the Shi'ite guerrilla group battles Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.
Crowds began arriving in the eastern Baghdad slum neighborhood late Thursday and were housed in mosques and Shi'ite community centers. US Army vehicles were seen Thursday evening guarding the approaches to Sadr City to prevent clashes between Shi'ite and Sunni extremists.