U.S.-backed Iraqi forces launch fresh push toward Mosul old city center
Reuters - U.S.-backed Iraqi forces launched on Sunday a new push toward the Islamic State-held old city center of Mosul, on the western bank of the Tigris river, an Iraqi military spokesman said.
Iraqi forces are fighting their way toward the old center of the city, advancing from the south and the southwest, Brigadier-General Yahya Rasool, spokesman for the joint operations command, told state-run television.
Iraqi forces captured the eastern side of Mosul in January after 100 days of fighting and launched their attack on the districts that lie west of the Tigris river on Feb. 19.
Their advance in western Mosul paused over the past 48 hours because of bad weather.
Rapid Response soldiers, progressing from the south through the Dawasa and Danadan districts, are within a few hundred meters from the government buildings near the old city, a media officer with these interior ministry units told Reuters.
U.S.-trained Counter-Terrorism Service units meanwhile pushed through Tal al-Ruman and the Somood districts, in the southwest, Rasool said.
