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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).

11:09 17.12.2015

RIA Novosti has this quote from Putin on the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad:

"We will never agree to someone from the outside imposing something."

11:19 17.12.2015

Life News -- which is close to Russia's security services -- has more detailed quotes from Putin on his comments about the Turkomans in northern Syria.

Turkey has accused Russia of deliberately targeting Turkoman rebel groups in Latakia province, which Russia has denied.

In his press conference today, Putin said that he had never even heard of the Turkomans.

"I had never heard about the Turkomans before. No one said anything," Putin said.

Putin added that in downing the Su-24 jet, Turkey had been acting on behalf of the United States but had put everyone in a difficult position, including the Americans.

11:20 17.12.2015

The Kremlin's official Twitter account has just tweeted Putin's comments about the costs of the Syrian operation.

Putin said that there have been no losses in the budget.

11:29 17.12.2015

The mother of James Foley, the American hostage beheaded on camera by the IS group last year, has said that she was angry at French far-right politician Marine Le Pen for posting a graphic photo depicting the act on social media, Reuters reports.

"We are offended that that awful image of our son's brutal murder be used publicly," Diana Foley said in an interview on Europe 1 radio.

"To tweet it again just continues to promote their propaganda -- the horrible way they recruit others who want to be brutal. I certainly do not want that to continue."

Le Pen posted the photo on her Twitter account as well as two others. One of the images showed a man dressed in orange with his severed head placed on his chest.

11:31 17.12.2015

IS militants are using Ukraine as a transit country to reach the EU and IS-controlled territories in the Middle East, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and former intelligence officers have said, the Kyiv Post reports.

Mykola Malomuzh, the ex-head of the Intelligence Service of Ukraine and a political consultant, told the Kyiv Post that IS militants have been using Ukraine as a transit corridor because the rules of border crossing in Ukraine are less strict than in other European countries.

11:35 17.12.2015

Analyst Charlie Winter points out that, despite IS's considerable propaganda efforts to promote its claims that it had established its own currency, the gold dinar, in the lands under its control -- this has not happened, even in its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.

11:45 17.12.2015

This just tweeted by Putin's official Twitter account regarding his comments earlier about how long Russia could continue its operation in Syria.

"We can continue the operation in Syria for a long time -- it is financed through the redistribution of budget for exercises of the Russian armed forces," the tweet quotes Putin as saying.

11:49 17.12.2015

IS militants have overrun new areas in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, which caused many people flee these areas, but still there is no sign of military action against the extremist group, RFE/RL's Afghan service is reporting.

The Afghan service also reports that an IS radio station called Radio Khelafat has begun broadcasting. Aghan officials say that this FM station is broadcasting from an area on the other side of the border.

12:05 17.12.2015

Maria Zakharova, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, has commented on Facebook about Putin's remarks this morning about Russia's military base in Syria.

Zakharova seems to think that the Americans will have difficulty in translating a Russian phrase that Putin used -- "это бабушка надвое сказала," which translates literally as "granny said ambiguously" but which means "it's anyone's guess" or "we'll just have to wait and see."

"It's interesting how the Pentagon are right now translating and analyzing Putin's words about whether a military base in Syria is needed or not -- that's anyone's guess," Zakharova wrote.

"I feel sorry for those guys, [I hope] it won't overpower them. Well, only if they start looking for a grandmother!"

12:10 17.12.2015

RIA Novosti is reporting that according to a Russian Foreign Ministry source, Jordan has sent Moscow a list of 160 organizations to be considered for inclusion in a list of terror groups during a meeting of world powers in New York about Syria tomorrow.

Russia said last month that participants in talks in Vienna on Syria had agreed that Jordan would coordinate efforts to compile a common list of terrorist groups in Syria.

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