Iraqi forces launch large-scale offensive to drive out ISIS from Western Mosul

After declaring eastern Mosul "fully liberated" from the Islamic State last month, Iraqi forces have launched a large-scale air-and-ground offensive on Sunday to recapture the western part of the city.

The start of the operation was announced on state TV by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who stated that government forces were moving to "liberate the people of Mosul from Daesh oppression and terrorism forever," using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Plumes of smoke rose into the sky early in the morning as the militarized Iraqi police fired artillery and the U.S.-led coalition jets pounded militant positions southwest of Mosul, The Associated Press reported.

The Ministry of Defense has said that the Iraqi Army's 9th Division has moved into the village of Bakhira while police units have entered the village of Athba, which is about 3 miles (5 kilometers) southwest of Mosul's International airport.

"Mosul would be a tough fight for any army in the world, and the Iraqi forces have risen to the challenge," said Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve. "They have taken the fight to the enemy and sacrificed their blood for the people of Iraq and the rest of the world," he continued.

ISIS fighters appear to have left behind sleeper cells to carry out attacks in eastern Mosul despite being driven out of the area last month.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, an Iraqi military spokesman, said that a patrol of government-allied Sunni tribal fighters in the Zihoor neighborhood was struck by a suicide bomber. Another bomber targeted Iraqi troops in Nabi Younis.

According to two policemen, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the first attack killed one Sunni fighter and wounded nine, while the second attack injured five soldiers.

The United Nations has expressed concern that hundreds of thousands of civilians are still trapped inside their homes in Mosul, with dwindling fuel, food and water, and scarce electricity.

The U.N., citing witnesses in western Mosul, said that nearly half of all the food shops in the city were closed and bakeries had been shut down due to lack of fuel and inability to purchase flour.

"The situation is distressing. People, right now, are in trouble," Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said in a statement. "We are hearing reports of parents struggling to feed their children and to heat their homes," she added.

The organization estimated that there maybe about 750,000 civilians left in the western part of the city. Humanitarian agencies were preparing to provide aid to 250,000 to 400,000 civilians who may flee due to the fighting.