MOSUL, Iraq — After three months of fighting, the battle to retake Mosul has entered a new chapter, but the Islamic State’s vast arsenal of car bombs and suicide vests is far from spent and most of the civilian population is still trapped.

By Friday, the government forces had pushed the militants across the Tigris River, which divides the city. With a partial victory in sight, a small group of journalists were invited by the government to report from the besieged city.

The mood among the troops was mostly celebratory: The Islamic State was on the run. But the fighting was far from over, and the danger still all too real. On the other side of the Tigris — just a few hundred yards away and home to 750,000 people — the militants were still in control.