Plumes of smoke fill the skies above Bartella, a heavily damaged Christian town that Iraqi forces recaptured from IS militants last week.
From here, Iraq's elite fighting unit has been launching mortars and rockets towards the village of Bazwaia.
About 80 IS-held villages and towns have been retaken in the first week of the Mosul offensive.
Colonel Falah Fader, from Iraq's Counter Terrorism Services, says they've been advancing towards Iraq's second-largest city, which has been under IS control since 2014.
"Today the Counter Terrorism Services began from the early hours of the morning to cleanse the area and the villages between Tabia and Bartella, including several small villages. Today, our troops advanced about six to seven kilometres away from Mosul."
Iraqi and Peshmerga forces have also streamed into the village of Tob Zawa, about 9 kilometres from Mosul.
According to reports, their arrival allowed more than 30 people sheltering in a nearby school to escape the fighting.
Coalition forces led by the United States have carried out airstrikes that have destroyed 19 fighting positions as well as vehicles, weaponry and tunnels near Mosul.
Turkey is also trumpeting its efforts, saying its forces have "neutralised" up to 20 IS militants.
Tensions between Turkey and Iraq remain high after the Turkish government sent hundreds of troops to Iraq's Bashiqa region to train anti-IS fighters.
Baghdad has called the move a violation of its sovereignty.
But Turkish officials, like Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, have ignored the protest.
"We are contributing to the ongoing Mosul operation in a multifaceted way. The Peshmerga forces that we're training in northern Iraq have been very active in the Mosul operation. Also, in the Bashiqa camp, the local forces that we're training are taking an active part in the operation."
Meanwhile, the United Nations has been distributing food and other items among the thousands displaced by the offensive.
The UN's High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, is once again warning that the growing number of displaced civilians could lead to more instability in Iraq.
"The preparations are proceeding well. UNHCR, just to give you an example, is going to have in two, three days 30,000 tents in country in Iraq. This is enough for 150,000 people but more are coming. We will get to 50,000 and then we have other shelter solutions for the people that may - may - get out of Mosul. We do not know yet."
Just south of Mosul, around 7,000 displaced people wait patiently for food and supplies at a UN checkpoint.
Ibrahim Ismail Obeid, who recently fled the village of Al Adla, says he and his family are lucky to be alive.
"The Islamic State was bombing us, people were stuck there and those who were able to flee came here. I didn't stay, I came here with my wife but we couldn't bring anything except our clothes. We didn't have any food. Without this we'd have nothing to eat."
At another refugee camp, former Mosul residents have welcomed the offensive.
Teenager Mohammed Younes says he now wants to return to his home city to join the fighting.
"I am so happy. I wish I could participate in the liberation of my province. Even as a volunteer, I would do it. If they give us weapons, we will fight to get to Mosul. The news makes me happy because IS destroyed us and made us flee our homes and destroyed many families. Everything that is happening here is because of them."
But IS has launched a series of counter-attacks on far-flung targets to relieve the pressure on its fighters.
The group has reportedly taken the town of Rutba, which controls a road leading to Jordan and Syria.
Militants are also moving in on Sinjar, a region mostly inhabited by the persecuted Yazidi minority, and the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
Human rights officials have called for an investigation into a purported air strike that killed 15 women in a Shia mosque near Kirkuk.
A spokesman for the US-led coalition says they did not conduct the air strike and there is no evidence to suggest it was linked with the Mosul offensive.
