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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).

11:20 11.1.2016

In Syria, the BBC has tweeted this short video of Syrian Arab Red Crescent trucks with food aid this morning for civilians in the besieged town of Madaya.

11:22 11.1.2016

The Danish government is trying to build the political support needed to send as many as 50 special operations forces into Syria and Iraq, Denmark's Politiken is reporting this morning.

The government is seeking to send up to 50 specially-trained troops on missions into both Syria and Iraq, in response to a request last month by the United States that Denmark increase its efforts in the fight against the IS group.

11:53 11.1.2016

Al-Qaeda's Yemeni branch and North African wing has warned Saudi Arabia it will pay for the executions of dozens of its members, Reuters reports.

Saudi Arabia killed 47 people including a Shi'ite cleric but mostly Al-Qaeda militants in a mass execution on January 2.

"But they (Riyadh) insisted on offering the blood of the good Mujahideen as a sacrifice for the Crusaders on their holiday, in the New Year," the two groups said in a statement posted on social media on January 10.

"Let them wait for the day when God will heal the chests of the families of the martyrs, their brothers and those who love them from the arrogant infidel."

11:56 11.1.2016

At least eight children have been killed along with their teacher in a Russian air strike on a school in the town of Anjara in Aleppo province in Syria, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said.

SOHR also reported that three children have been killed by rebel rocket fire on a government-held district in Aleppo city.

12:01 11.1.2016

Pawel Krzysiek, the spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Syria, says that the Red Cross, Syrian Arab Red Crescent and UN convoy is en route to the rebel-besieged Shi'ite villages of Kefraya and Foua.

12:07 11.1.2016

As Reuters reported earlier, a spokesman for Libya's Petroleum Facilities Guard in Sidra says suspected IS militants used three boats to try to access the Zueitina oil port.

12:48 11.1.2016

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has condemned the actions of two Malaysians reportedly involved in suicide bombings in Syria and Iraq that killed more than 30 people, Channel News Asia reports.

“Their actions and ideology have no place in Malaysia or Islam, and the Government is absolutely committed to fighting terrorism in all its forms and guises, both at home and overseas,” Mr Najib wrote on his Facebook page.

The New Straits Times reported earlier today that one of the bombers, Mohd Amirul Ahmad Rahim, 26, who went under the nom de guerre Abu Uqash Malizi, detonated bombs during clashes in IS's Syrian stronghold Raqqa on December 29.

On January 3, a second Malaysian, Mohamad Syazwan Mohd Salim, 31, carried out a suicide attack at the Camp Speicher military base near Tikrit in Iraq.

12:50 11.1.2016

Sara Hussein of AFP tweets that the aid operations sent today to three besieged Syrian towns have to enter the towns simultaneously.

Madaya, near Damascus, is held by rebels and besieged by government forces.

The government controlled Shi'ite towns of Foua and Kefraya are besieged by rebels including Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate the Al-Nusra Front.

12:53 11.1.2016

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent tweets photos of aid convoys arriving at Madaya, Foua and Kefraya.

12:54 11.1.2016

British jets have targeted IS militants near their Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, the UK's Ministry of Defense has said.

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