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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).

11:43 4.12.2015

This is the result of the vote in Germany's parliament over air strikes against IS targets in Syria: 445 voted in favor, 146 voted against.

11:41 4.12.2015

AP has a little more information about the German Parliament's approval to send troops to support the fight against IS in Syria. More details expected soon.

11:39 4.12.2015

Breaking news from Germany on the fight against IS in Syria.

11:38 4.12.2015

AFP has more on French President Hollande's planned trip to visit the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle today on the eastern Mediterranean off Syria.

Hollande is expected to meet fighter pilots and the crews that service the warplanes on the aircraft carrier, which is being used to conduct air strikes on IS targets. It was despatched to the eastern Mediterranean in the wake of the November 13 Paris attacks.

11:04 4.12.2015

Sky News reports that it is La Bonne Bierre cafe, where five people were killed during the November 13 Paris attacks, has reopened.

11:02 4.12.2015

Turkey will not cancel visa-free travel for Russian citizens despite the chilling of relations between the two countries in the wake of last week's downing of a Russian Su-24 jet near the Syrian border, the Turkish Embassy in Moscow has said.

"Turkey will not introduce visa requirements for Russian citizens because it considers the Russian people to be friendly," pro-Kremlin news website RIA Novosti reports.

Russia has banned the sale of package tours to Turkey and canceled charter flights to the country in the wake of the Su-24 incident.

10:55 4.12.2015

Here is the official statement from the French President's office regarding President Hollande's visit to the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier off Syria:

10:53 4.12.2015

French President Francois Hollande is to visit a French aircraft carrier off Syria, AFP has just tweeted, citing the President's office.

France's only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, was despatched to target the IS group in Syria last month following the November 13 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.

10:49 4.12.2015

Russia has completed genetic examinations of the remains of those killed in a Russian passenger jet downed over Egypt's Sinai peninsula, TASS reports.

The IS group claimed responsibility for downing the plane on October 31. All 217 passengers and seven crew members died.

Genetic verification to identify the remains of the victims of the plane downing was carried out at the Center for Forensic Medicine in Moscow.

10:41 4.12.2015

Putin's spokesman Peskov declined to comment on a question from the BBC this morning regarding whether Russia is building a second base in Syria.

Activists have reported that Russia is expanding runways at an existing base in Syria's Homs province but this remains unconfirmed.

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