© Stringer . / Reuters
More than two years after the Islamic State terror group took control of the city, Iraqi forces have entered the outer edge of Mosul. Commanders on Tuesday said they had made an initial breach into the city in the neighborhood of Gogjali. “Right now I’m in the middle of Gogjali,” Lt. Gen. Abdelwahab al-Saedi, a commander with the counterterrorism forces, told The Washington Post. “We are dealing with pockets of resistance and booby traps.” The push into the city from the east followed Iraqi government forces taking several nearby villages. “There are still sleeper cells around in the villages,” said another special-forces captain. Civilians were still fleeing the city by convoys, as other hostages were being used by ISIS as human shields. Iraqi officials encouraged civilians in Mosul to remain in their homes. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, on state television, assured citizens that his forces were close.