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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).

17:34 4.12.2015

Journalist Michael Weiss tweets this on the Paris attacks: French and Belgian police are searching for two new suspects, the Belgian prosecutor has said.

17:31 4.12.2015

Analyst Aaron Zelin tweets this comment about the San Bernardino shootings, following news that the female attacker pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a Facebook post during the attack:

17:28 4.12.2015

German reconnaissance planes will soon arrive in Turkey's Incirlik air base to support the U.S.-led coalition's fight against the IS group, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said.

17:16 4.12.2015

Russia Calls On Coalition To Share Syria Drone Intelligence

Russia's Defense Ministry says that over the past days, there has been a threefold increase in the number of unmanned aircraft (UAVs) operated by the U.S.-led coalition in Syria.

Sometimes as many as 50 UAVs have been operating at the same time, the Ministry said, according to RIA Novosti.

The information gathered by the coalition drones should be shared, because it relates to illegal oil smuggling, Defense Ministry official Gen. Maj. Igor Konashenkov said

"I want to draw your attention to the fact that most of the UAVs of the so-called coalition are carrying out reconnaissance above oil fields and along the Syria-Turkey border, across which most of the contraband oil trafficking is happening," Konashenkov said.

"You understand very well that our colleagues, who have conducted large scale video monitoring in these areas, could, if so desired, shared this information with the public -- what is happening on the Syria-Turkey border, in what volumes and how the terrorists are selling oil."

Russia has accused Turkey of involvement in illegal sales of IS oil, allegations that Turkey has said are slanderous.

17:02 4.12.2015

Officials: San Bernardino Gunwoman Pledged Allegiance To IS, No Evidence IS Directed The Attack

The New York Times has more on the breaking reports that Tashfeen Malik, the woman who helped carry out the shooting in San Bernardino, California on Wednesday had pledged allegiance to the IS group in a Facebook post.

Federal law enforcement officials told the New York Times that there is no evidence that IS directed Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, to launch the attacks.

“At this point we believe they were more self-radicalized and inspired by the group than actually told to do the shooting,” one of the officials told the New York Times.

Fourteen people were killed and 21 wounded in the attack.

16:58 4.12.2015

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said that it may be possible for Syrian rebels and the Syrian government to cooperate against militants without Syrian President Bashar al-Assad having left power, Reuters reports.

Kerry said that it would be "exceedingly difficult" to achieve this if rebel forces did not have confidence that Assad would eventually go.

The idea that Syrian government forces could unite with rebels to fight against extremists was voiced by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a December 2013 interview with Russian TV. Lavrov said that "everything must be done to create a battle-worthly alliance of the government and the patriotic opposition against the terrorist interlopers who flock to Syria from around the world."

16:54 4.12.2015

IS Publishes Video Showing Children Killing Hostages

The IS group has published a video showing six children killing captured Syrian soldiers, BBC Russian reports.

The video starts with a shot of the children running through a ruined building to find their victims, whose hands have been tied.

Then each of the six children kills one captive Syrian.

Five shoot their victims but one child slits the throat of a hostage.

The video says the children won a competition that included tests in physical and religious training and that carrying out the execution-style killings was their "reward," according to BBC Russian.

16:44 4.12.2015

More from CNN on the breaking news that Tashfeen Malik, the female attacker in the San Bernadino shootings in the United States could have been linked to the IS group.

Three U.S. officials familiar with the investigation told CNN that as the San Bernardino attack was happening, investigators believe Malik posted on Facebook pledging allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

One U.S. official said that the posting was by Malik made on an account with a different name. The offiicals did not say how they knew that the post was by Malik.

16:40 4.12.2015

This from CNN about the deadly shooting in at a social service center in the city of San Bernadino in California where officials say a husband and wife shot dead 14 people and wounded 21 on Wednesday.

16:37 4.12.2015

A spokeswoman for Russia's Embassy in Thailand has told the BBC's Russian service that diplomats have not received any information about planned attacks on Russian citizens vacationing in the country.

"We have not received any official notification. Russian citizens should not have any concerns," Embassy spokeswoman Olga Zhilina told the BBC.

Thai police say they were warned by Moscow that ten Syrians working for IS had entered Thailand to target Russians.

The BBC Russian service says it has asked Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) for comment on these reports but have not received any response.

Zhilina said the Embassy had no reason to consider the reports as a credible threat.

"We don't understand how to consider this. This information appeared in the media. It hasn't come to us via any channel," Zhilina told BBC Russian.

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