Iraqi security forces flash V signs for victory outside al-Salam hospital in Mosul, Iraq, Tuesday. The Mosul hospital has been left almost completely gutted by the battle to retake it.

Iraqi forces made new advances against Islamic State in east Mosul and fought the militants in areas near the Tigris river on Wednesday, seeking to build on recent gains, military officials said. A Reuters reporter in eastern Mosul said CTS forces were engaged in clashes in Sadeeq and were firing into neighbouring Hadba, where their units had been fighting the day before.

Iraqi forces patrol a street in Mosul next to the Al-Salam Hospital in the Wihdah neighborhood after recapturing the area from Daesh. A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on January 11, 2017, on page 9.

After weeks of airstrikes and artillery fire, Mosul’s al-Salam hospital is little more than a burnt-out shell. Retaken from the Islamic State group by Iraqi forces this month, the building’s top floors were almost completely destroyed.

Iraqi forces pushed Islamic State fighters back further in Mosul on Tuesday in a renewed effort to seize the northern city and deal a decisive blow to the militant group, though progress was slower in some districts, the army said. Iraqi forces and their allies have captured villages and towns surrounding Mosul and seized at least two-thirds of its eastern districts, military officials say, pushing right up to the eastern bank of the Tigris river in recent days.

Elite counterterrorism forces transport civilians fleeing their homes during fighting between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq, Monday, Jan. 9, 2017. GENEVA – The U.N.’s humanitarian aid agency says an average of 1,000 people have fled the Iraqi city of Mosul each day over the last week amid a stepped-up Iraqi offensive to retake the city from the Islamic State group.