Iraqi Forces Enter Western Mosul, in Fierce Battle Against ISIS

Iraqi Forces Enter Western Mosul, in Fierce Battle Against ISIS2 Iraqi government-controlled 1 Eastern Mosul ISIS-controlled   Western Mosul 2 Mosul Tigris Baghdad IRAQ 1 IRAQ Hamam al-Alil 10Miles 2 Iraqi govt.-controlled 1 Eastern Mosul ISIS-controlled   2 Western Mosul Tigris 1 10 Miles Hamam al-Alil FEB. 26, 2017Muhammadawi said that The liberation of the government compound is a step forward for our forces, a vital motivating position for usBy OMAR AL-JAWOSHY and SEWELL CHANMARCH 7, 2017BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces trying to reclaim Mosul penetrated the western part of the city on Tuesday, retaking a bridgeand several public buildings during heavy clashes with the Islamic State, officials said.Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir al-Muhammadawi, a spokesman for an elite unit commanded by the Interior Ministry, saidthat the buildings retaken from the Islamic State included a courthouse where militants had carried out sentences including whippings, stonings and beheadings, and a building from which militants had thrown people to their deaths.The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported on Tuesdaythat about 46,000 people in Mosul had been displaced since Feb. 19 — including 13,350 on Friday alone — in the highest continuous displacement of civilians since October.Civilians reported that the bombardment and gunfire were the heaviest since Feb. 19, the beginning of the operation to retake the westernpart of the city — the country’s second-largest, where roughly a million people are trapped and living in desperate conditions.Lt. Gen. Raed Shakir Jawdat, the chief of the federal police, saidthat security forces had retaken a branch of the central bank; the archaeological museum; and a government compound.