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		</div><p>Iraqi troops faced stiff resistance from militants from the so-called &#8216;Islamic State&#8217; as they pushed deeper into eastern Mosul, backed by aerial support from the US-led international coalition, a senior military commander said.</p>
<p>At dawn today, troops moved into the Muharabeen and Ulama neighbourhoods after fully liberating the adjacent Tahrir neighbourhood yesterday, said Major General Sami al-Aridi of the Iraqi special forces.</p>
<p>He said &#8216;IS&#8217; militants were fighting back with snipers, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds.</p>
<p>Thick black columns of smoke were seen billowing from the two areas, while dozens of civilians were seen fleeing to government-controlled areas.</p>
<p>To the west of Mosul, government-sanctioned Shiite militias took control of the Tal Afar military airfield on Friday night, said Jaafar al-Husseini, spokesman for the influential Hezbollah Brigades.</p>
<p>He said the clashes almost destroyed the airport and that it will be an important launching pad for the troops in their advance.</p>
<p>The offensive to retake &#8216;IS&#8217;-held Mosul, which was launched on October 17, is the biggest military operation in Iraq since American troops left in 2011.</p>
<p>If successful, the retaking of Mosul would be the strongest blow dealt to IS&#8217;s self-styled caliphate stretching into Syria.</p>
<p>The Shiite militias are leading an assault to drive &#8216;IS&#8217; from Tal Afar, which had a majority Shiite population before it fell to the militants in the summer of 2014, and to cut IS supply lines linking Mosul to Syria.</p>
<p>According to the United Nations, more than 56,000 civilians have been forced from their homes since the operation began out of nearly 1.5 million civilians living in and around Mosul.</p>
<p>The extremist group captured Mosul, Iraq&#8217;s second largest city, in the summer of 2014.</p>
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