(VOVworld) – The Iraqi government’s forces on Friday retook control of more areas from the IS in the city of Mosul, making new progress for the first time in northern Mosul.

Iraqi troops celebrate as they hold a IS flag that they captured  during a military operation to regain control of a village outside Mosul, Iraq (Photo: AP/Hadi Mizban)

The Iraqi Joint Operations Command said that Iraqi troops entered Mosul from the north and freed al-Mazari and Hadbaa neighborhood from IS. They are now fighting at the edge of the four residential areas.