Iraqi forces move to retake another Mosul neighborhood

Iraqi citizens who fled the fighting between Islamic State militants and the Iraqi forces, have their lunch inside their tent at a camp for internally displaced people, in Khazer east of Mosul, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 21, 2016. Iraqi troops fighting Islamic State militants in the eastern outskirts of Mosul regrouped Monday in the city's neighborhoods they recently retook from the extremist group, conducting house-to-house searches and looking for would-be suicide car bombs, a top Iraqi commander said. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) (The Associated Press)

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An Iraqi man who fled the fighting between Islamic State militants and the Iraqi forces, sits in the sun as he smokes a cigarette, at a camp for internally displaced people, in Khazer east of Mosul, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 21, 2016. Iraqi troops fighting Islamic State militants in the eastern outskirts of Mosul regrouped Monday in the city's neighborhoods they recently retook from the extremist group, conducting house-to-house searches and looking for would-be suicide car bombs, a top Iraqi commander said. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) (The Associated Press)

Iraqi girls, who fled with their parents the fighting between Islamic State militants and the Iraqi forces, play outside their tents at a camp for internally displaced people, in Khazer east of Mosul, Iraq, Monday, Nov. 21, 2016. Iraqi troops fighting Islamic State militants in the eastern outskirts of Mosul regrouped Monday in the city's neighborhoods they recently retook from the extremist group, conducting house-to-house searches and looking for would-be suicide car bombs, a top Iraqi commander said. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) (The Associated Press)

IRBIL, Iraq – A senior Iraqi commander says troops are moving to take another neighborhood in the eastern sector of the northern city of Mosul but are meeting stiff resistance from Islamic State militants.

Brig. Gen. Haider Fadel of the special forces tells The Associated Press that IS fighters are targeting his forces with rockets and mortars as they slowly advance in the densely populated al-Zohour neighborhood on Tuesday.

He says they're "cautiously advancing."

Iraq's military launched a campaign on Oct. 17 to retake Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the last major IS urban bastion in the country. Most gains have been made by the special forces operating east of the Tigris River. Other forces are advancing on the city from different directions, and the U.S.-led coalition is providing airstrikes and other support.