Iraq: New Push to Drive IS from 4 Neighborhoods in Mosul

A senior military commander says Iraqi government forces have launched a new push to drive Islamic State group militants from four neighborhoods in west Mosul.

In a statement Sunday, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Rasheed Yar Allah said 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.

The operation to retake Mosul was launched in October and the city's east was declared liberated in January. Iraqi forces launched the operation to retake the west the following month.

In recent weeks, U.S.-backed Iraqi troops have slowly closed in on a small cluster of neighborhoods in the city's west.