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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).

14:33 3.2.2016

IS militants open fire on Turkish soldiers near Syria border: Anadolu

IS militants opened fire on Turkish military personnel near the Syrian border in the southeastern town of Karkamis on Feb. 3, the state-run Anadolu agency reported.

The gunfire came from the IS-controlled town of Jarabulus as the soldiers were engaged in mine clearance activities, the report says.

14:35 3.2.2016

Syrian opposition leader Riyad Hijab has arrived in Geneva, the Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee says.

14:49 3.2.2016

Arab fighters, Kurdish forces retake northern Iraq village from IS

Sunni Arab fighters backed by Kurdish forces and U.S.-led air strikes have retaken the village of Kudila in the Makhmour district of northern Iraq today from the IS group, Reuters reports, calling it an "example of effective military cooperation on the ground" against IS.

14:56 3.2.2016

Via Twitter, Russia's Foreign Ministry drives home FM Lavrov's insistence that Russian air strikes will not stop until all "terrorists" are defeated.

15:17 3.2.2016

Germany investigates Syrian grad student suspected of making IS video

Prosecutors in Frankfurt, Germany are investigating a 35-year-old Syrian doctorate student suspected of involvement in an IS propaganda video.

The unnamed man is believed to have explained his reasons for supporting IS in a nine-minute video in Arabic posted on the internet on Jan. 7.

The man is also suspected of posting a symbol resembling the IS flag on his personal page on a social media site.

15:18 3.2.2016

Iraq building security wall around Baghdad to prevent IS attacks

Iraqi security forces are building a concrete security wall around Baghdad in an attempt to prevent attacks by the IS group, a military statement has said, Reuters reports.

15:27 3.2.2016

The U.S.-led coalition against IS tweets that it destroyed 300 IS targets between Jan. 26- Feb. 1:

16:09 3.2.2016

Syrian rebels backed by U.S.-led air strikes recaptured IS village: coalition

The spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against the IS group, U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, says that Syrian opposition forces backed by U.S.-led air strikes retook the IS-held village of Al-Bali in Syria on Jan. 30.

Warren is giving a briefing to update on the progress of the coalition in Iraq and Syria.

16:12 3.2.2016

U.S. sends more F-16s to Baghdad

The United States Embassy in Baghdad has announced on its Facebook page that the United States has sent additional F-16 bombers to Iraq.

These will be used in the fight against the IS group.

16:14 3.2.2016

Recapturing Raqqa a top priority: coalition

U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against IS, says that recapturing the IS stronghold of Raqqa in Syria is a priority.

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