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A woman rests near rubble in the Syrian town of Darat Izza in Aleppo Province on February 28.
A woman rests near rubble in the Syrian town of Darat Izza in Aleppo Province on February 28.

Live Blog: Tracking Islamic State

Follow all of the latest developments as they happen.

Latest News For February 29

-- The United States Army's elite Delta Force is on the verge of beginning operations to target, capture or kill top IS operatives in Iraq, after several weeks of covert preparation, an administration official with direct knowledge of the force's activities told CNN.

-- Syrian government forces have regained control of a road used by the army to access Aleppo, after making advances against Islamic State fighters, a monitoring group and state television reported.


-- Authorities in Iraq say the death toll from a double bombing at a market in Baghdad’s Shi’ite neighborhood of Sadr City rose to 73 on February 29 after several critically wounded victims died overnight.

-- Tajik media are reporting that a woman known to be the second wife of Gulmurod Halimov, the fugitive Tajik colonel who defected to the IS group, has left for Syria along with the couple's four young children.

-- The UN is poised to begin delivering aid to people living in besieged areas of Syria, making use of a truce brokered by the United States and Russia. The first deliveries are planned for Feb. 29, with aid due to reach about 150,000 Syrians in besieged areas over the next five days.

-- A truce negotiated between Syrian rebels and the government has caused a dramatic decrease in airstrikes around rebel-held territory, but there were few celebrations, with many residents suspecting a trick, CNN report.

* NOTE: Live blog posts are time-stamped according to Central European Time (CET).

15:55 24.11.2015

Returning to the aftermath of the November 13 attacks in Paris, CBS's White House correspondent has tweeted photos of the arrival in the United States of French President Hollande.

Hollande is set to meet U.S. President Obama as part of a push for increased efforts to combat IS.

15:50 24.11.2015

Turkey's Hurriyet News has posted a video that alleges to show the killing of the two Russian pilots from the downed Su-24 jet.

Turkmen rebels claim that they shot dead both of the pilots as they parachuted out of the downed plane.

Gunfire can be heard throughout the video. A man shouts in Turkish, asking gunmen not to shoot, because the pilots are potential hostages.

"Don't shoot! A hostage is coming, a hostage," the man shouts according to Hurriyet.

The authenticity of the video has not been independently confirmed.

15:47 24.11.2015

More on the claims by Turkmen rebels that they shot dead both Russian pilots from the downed Su-24 jet.

Turkmen Deputy Commander to the 2nd Coast Division Alpaslan Çelik told Turkey's Dogan news agency that both pilots were killed.

"We shot the pilots while they were landing with parachutes. Their bodies are here," Çelik said.

15:43 24.11.2015

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has just announced he has canceled his visit to Turkey tomorrow, November 25, in the wake of this morning's downing of a Russian Su-24 jet.

15:40 24.11.2015

Federica Mogherini, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy has tweeted that she talked with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg this morning in the wake of the downing of the Russian Su-24 jet by Turkey.

15:34 24.11.2015

A Turkmen official in Syria has said that his forces shot dead both Russian pilots as they parachuted to the ground after ejecting from their downed Su-24 jet.

Earlier today, a Syrian rebel group claimed that its gunmen had shot dead one of the pilots. The fate of the other pilot was unknown.

This claim is not yet verified.

15:30 24.11.2015

Viktor Zavarzin, a member of the Russian parliament’s defense committee, has warned that Russia will not leave the downing of the Su-24 jet unanswered, TASS reports.

"Our miitary aircraft did not violate Turkish air space," Zavarzin said.

"Today's incident is a serious provocation for regional and global security, the consequences of which will be irreversible...From the Russian side there will be an appropriate reaction, a response. The actions of the Turkish authorities are completely unacceptable, they have made a huge mistake."

Zavarzin added that "everyone is threatened by IS. And we can only fight it together...But now we see that many are clearly hindering our fight against terror. That's why what happened, happened."

15:28 24.11.2015

Here's the video obtained by Reuters from a Syrian rebel group calling itself the 10th Brigade purports to show one of the pilots from the Russian plane shot down near the Syrian-Turkish border.

Video Purports To Show Dead Russian Pilot
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No media source currently available

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15:21 24.11.2015

Russia's Izvestia news site is reporting that the Su-24 jet would not have stood a chance against an F-16, because Su-24s are designed exclusively for bombing from the air, not air battles and have a higher take off weight and lower maneuverability than F-16s.

Turkey and now Russia say that a the Su-24 was shot down by a Turkish F-16.

Izvestia spoke to Mikhail Khodarenko, the editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier weekly magazine, who said that the pilots of the Su-24 may not have even noticed the F-16.

"The Su-24 does not have a rear view mirror in its cockpit. The pilots sometimes even use a hand mirror in order to at least roughly see what's going on behind them," Khodarenko said.

"Regarding ejection, in the Su-24 it's not automatic. There are two levers between the pilot's legs which need to be raised in order to eject."

15:11 24.11.2015

There have been more reactions from Russian lawmakers to the downing of the Russian Su-24 jet by Turkey this morning.

Alexander Romanovich, a member of Russia's social democrat A Just Russia party who is also deputy head of the Duma's international affairs committee, said that the incident has dealt a blow to Russian relations with Turkey, and that Russians would change their attitude toward the country.

"I'm sure that Turkey will suffer serious economic damage if only because of the attitude of Russians," Romanovich said.

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