Iraqi Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi issued a written statement this morning and announced the beginning of the operation to liberate western Mosul from ISIS gang groups. In his statement, al-Abadi said "We announce that we will liberate western Mosul. For us, the liberation of humanity is always more important than the liberation of land."
On the other hand, Iraqi war planes distributed millions of pamphlets on the liberation of Mosul to citizens, and Iraqi military officials stated that the Iraqi army has officially launched the operation to liberate the city.
Eastern Mosul had been liberated from ISIS gang groups during the operation that had begun on October 17, 2016.