As I had mentioned in this post, Maliki was ramping up to launch another Operation against Sadr and the Sadrists, this time in Amara. Well, it's official and well underway now...

Baghdad, Jun 14, (VOI) – Iraq's Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Nouri al-Maliki, announced on Saturday that Missan is a disarmed province as of Sunday, giving gunmen four days to hand over their weapons, according to al-Iraqiya TV.
The semi-official station cut their transmission to read out a statement by the Iraqi army's supreme commander Maliki, the prime minister, announcing Missan as a disarmed province as of June 15, 2008.
A high-ranking source in the interior ministry had earlier told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI) that a wide-scale military operation would begin in the southern Iraq province during the next 48 hours to track down armed groups in the fashion of operations in Basra, Mosul and Sadr City.
The source did not give further details for "security" reasons.
An official security source in Missan told VOI that joint security forces were deployed on Saturday at the city's main and border outlets in preparation for carrying out Operation Fardh al-Qanoon (law imposing), planned to be launched during the next few days.

What was left out of that brief 'official' statement, is some of the actions that are occuring already...

The operation is the latest stage in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's drive to stamp his government's authority on areas of the country previously controlled by Shi'ite militias or Sunni Arab insurgents.

"The decision to undertake the operation has been taken, but the zero hour has not been set yet," Adel al-Muhoudir, governor of Maysan province, told Reuters.

Iraqi tanks were seen on major streets in Amara. Iraqi security forces patrolled and many checkpoints had been set up in the city.

The city is a stronghold of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who agreed to a ceasefire after U.S.-backed Iraqi forces launched a major crackdown on his Mehdi Army militia in Basra in March.

The security official, who asked not to be named, said the aim of the operation was to arrest wanted people and collect "heavy" weapons. It would also target armed groups and some members of the Mehdi Army, he said.[...]
Helicopters dropped leaflets on Amara, a city of about 250,000 people 300 km (185 miles) southeast of Baghdad, urging residents to stay at home and not to interfere with the operations.

"Iraqi security forces are currently implementing an operation to arrest all outlaws," one leaflet said.

Iraqi armoured vehicles had arrived from the southern city of Basra and police units had come from Baghdad and elsewhere, the security official said.

"Army and police have fanned out all over the city in a way we didn't witness before, on the main streets, roads and bridges," said local resident Muhsin Abdul-Hassan.

Amara is capital of Maysan Province, which borders Iran and is one of Iraq's poorest regions despite its oil reserves.

Sadr ordered a delegation of clerics to go to Amara for talks with regional officials on how the operation would be carried out, said Sayyid Kareem al-Battat, a delegation member.

Battat said the delegation carried instructions from Sadr for Mehdi Army members to respect the ceasefire ordered by the cleric.

He said the provincial governor had promised security forces would respect human rights and that a committee of tribal leaders would supervise the operation.

We'll see how 'successful' they are, So far it's a pretty peaceful operation... I'm not holding my breath...!