Accessibility links

Breaking News
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).

12:31 17.12.2015

Turkey's Daily Sabah has tweeted a video of an attack by IS militants on the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq yesterday where Turkish forces are stationed. Four Turkish soldiers were injured in the attack.

12:38 17.12.2015

12:47 17.12.2015

More than a month after the slaying of two Syrian activists in the Turkish city of Sanliurfa, the media collective that the two men -- Ibrahim Abdelqader and his friend Fares Hamadi belonged to -- which secretly documents life in the IS stronghold of Raqqa -- has been forced into deep hiding, AP reports.

IS claimed responsibility for the murders of the two activists from the Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently group in a video message.

The group won the 2015 Committee to Protect Journalists' International Press Freedom Award last month.

But their members are at risk -- even those in Turkey.

The remaining members of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently -- roughly 30 people, mostly based in Syria -- are taking extraordinary precautions. Those in Turkey have changed residences and avoid encounters with contacts that have not been thoroughly vetted.

Most lack passports or the documents needed to get out of the country.

[The Committee to Protect Journalists] says it has been working to help activists and family members relocate, but Abdelqader says more can be done.

"We are being killed. We are being threatened on a daily basis by IS," he said. "What is strange to us is that no one has showed any concern -- not even the organizations that protect journalists. No state has offered us protection or offered to help protect my family. No one has given us a helping hand."

12:55 17.12.2015

Putin has commented on the new counter-terrorism coalition announced by Saudi Arabia earlier this week.

Putin said that he did not think that the coalition would have an "anti-Russian character."

12:58 17.12.2015

"For the war on terror, we have to unite all our forces, the alliance created by Saudi Arabia must act in the common interest," Putin said of the coalition against terrorism announced by Riyadh this week.

13:01 17.12.2015

Putin says that "Moscow and Riyadh have different approaches to settling the Syrian conflict in a number of areas but there are overlaps."

13:08 17.12.2015

Turkey has stopped more than 36,500 terror suspects heading to join the IS group in Syria, Interior Minister Efkan Ala has said.

Ala told the Anadolu Agency that most of the suspects had been stopped from entering Turkey at the border but that almost 2,800 people from 89 countries had been arrested and later deported.

13:08 17.12.2015

Turkey has stopped more than 36,500 terror suspects heading to join the IS group in Syria, Interior Minister Efkan Ala has said.

Ala told the Anadolu Agency that most of the suspects had been stopped from entering Turkey at the border but that almost 2,800 people from 89 countries had been arrested and later deported.

13:29 17.12.2015

Libya's warring factions have met in Morocco to sign a U.N.-brokered peace deal to form a national government that Western powers hope will bring stability and help fight a growing Islamic State presence, Reuters reports.

IS militants, exploiting the growing chaos in Libya since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi four years ago, have expanded their presence in the country, including by taking over the city of Sirte, ransacking oil fields to the south of that city and killing a group of Egyptian Christians.

13:32 17.12.2015

Investigators of the Paris attacks have found evidence they believe shows some of the attackers used encrypted apps to conceal their plotting for the attacks, officials briefed on the investigation have told CNN.

Officials found that the attackers used apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, which use end-to-end encryption that protects user privacy.

CNN says that the officials have not revealed what specific evidence shows that these apps were used for planning the Paris attacks, but they did say that the attackers used the apps to communicate among themselves for a period before the attacks.

Load more

XS
SM
MD
LG