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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).

13:15 5.1.2016

Russia estimates as "very high" the probability that IS militants in Syria have used chemical weapons, Mikhail Ulyanov, the head of the Russian foreign ministry department for non-proliferation and arms control, has said.

"We have repeatedly noted the facts of the probable use of chemical weapons by IS militants and in a wider sense by Islamic radicals, starting with the attacks in Khan al-Assal [in Aleppo province] in March 2013 against government forces," Ulyanov said.

"Later there was East Ghouta in August 2013."

Russia claimed in July 2013 that it had evidence showing that a projectile that hit Khan al-Assal on March 19, 2013 contained sarin and was most likely fired by rebels. At least 27 people died in the attack.

12:59 5.1.2016

There are reports that at least 25 Iraqi security forces have been killed in clashes with IS militants near Haditha in Anbar province.

12:51 5.1.2016

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has found indications that some Syrians have been exposed to sarin or a similar nerve agent, the BBC reports.

An OPCW report said it was investigating 11 chemical-weapon attacks alleged by Syria's government but did not say when or where the attacks happened or who was responsible.

12:45 5.1.2016

12:44 5.1.2016

U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman for the U.S.-led military operation against IS, says that the U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi Security Forces have retaken 40 percent of territory from the IS group in Iraq.

12:43 5.1.2016

U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman for the U.S.-led military operation against IS, is tweeting updates from a press conference.

Warren says that IS's raids near Haditha in Iraq's Anbar province have not been successful because the Iraqi Security Forces are stronger and because of air strikes from U.S.-led coalition.

12:26 5.1.2016

Reuters has a few more details on Siddhartha Dhar, the London man believed to be the masked IS militant who appeared in a recent IS video showing the killing of five men.

Dhar, who is also known as Abu Rumaysah, is one of Britain's most high-profile Islamists and an associate of Anjem Choudary, Britain's best-known Islamist preacher who is due to go on trial next week accused of terrorism offenses.

A convert from Hinduism who lived in east London, Dhar regularly attended protests staged by the now banned organization al-Muhajiroun and had often spoken to the media in support of radical Islamic causes.

12:13 5.1.2016

Libyan activist Ahmed El-Gasir has tweeted this map showing the locations of the clashes between IS militants and the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) near the oil terminal of Sidra.

12:01 5.1.2016

Saudi Arabia and Iran owe it to the international community to put aside their differences in the Middle East and focus on opposing the IS group, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told newspaper Bild, Reuters reports.

11:48 5.1.2016

There is a "huge fire" in an oil storage tank in Libya's Sidra port as IS militants resume shelling, the National Oil Corp. says.

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