Baghdad - Iraqi governmental forces started a new push against the so-called Islamic State group militants (ISIS) to push them out from the remaining four neighborhoods they in control of in West Mosul, a senior military commander reported. In a statement Sunday, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Rasheed Yar Allah says Iraqi special forces are moving to the al-Eraibi and al-Rifaie neighborhoods, while militarized federal police and regular army forces are fighting IS in nearby al-Ektisadieen and 17th of July neighborhoods. Yar Allah says the forces "have broken through the enemy fortifications" without giving more details. Iraqi forces started operation to retake Mosul, in October, and after months, the city's east was declared liberated in January, while the city's west remained under ISIS's control waiting to be liberated from their control. In recent weeks, U.S.-backed Iraqi troops have slowly closed in on a small cluster of neighborhoods in the city's west.
