Iraqi forces fighting IS in western Mosul’s old quarter

Iraqi forces are fighting Islamic State as they push to retake the remaining part of the extremist militia’s former stronghold of Mosul.

Iraqiya state TV reported that Iraqi forces continued their operations in the Old City of Mosul, west of the Tigris River, against Islamic State.

On Sunday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi toured Mosul and congratulated the soldiers “on achieving the big victory.”

The radical group seized Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, in mid-2014.

In October 2016, Iraq started a U.S.-backed military campaign to dislodge Islamic State from the city.

In February, Iraqi forces launched an offensive backed by the U.S. to wrest the western section of Mosul from Islamic State, almost a month after they recaptured the eastern part of the city.

The Mosul operation coincided with a U.S.-supported attack by local fighters in neighbouring Syria aimed at expelling Islamic State from its de facto capital of al-Raqqa.