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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).

15:45 5.1.2016

Sky News Arabia is reporting that IS militants have blown up a hospital in Ramadi, in Iraq's Anbar province.

15:44 5.1.2016

Here are some images from the pro-IS Aamaq News video which claims to show IS taking control of oil tanks south of Sidra yesterday. The video was released earlier today.

15:14 5.1.2016

Fayez Seraj, the head of the Presidency Council of the Libyan Government of National Accord, has spoken with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni about the attacks by the IS group on Libyan oil terminals.

15:10 5.1.2016

The U.S.-led coalition against IS has published details of air strikes carried out yesterday (January 4) against the IS group in Iraq and Syria.

These include two strikes near Haditha -- where Iraqi tribal and security forces are battling a major IS offensive -- which hit near two separate IS tactical units and destroyed an IS mortar position, three IS fighting positions, four IS vehicles, two IS heavy machine guns, and wounded two IS militants.

15:02 5.1.2016

AFP has spoken to a tribal commander in Iraq's Anbar province and the mayor of Haditha, who confirmed heavy casualties in major clashes with IS militants near Haditha.

Tribal commander Abdallah Atallah told AFP by phone that 25 Iraqi fighters have been killed in 72 hours and that dozens more have been wounded.

"It was one of the biggest offensives we have seen. It came from three directions," he said.

Haditha mayor Mabrouk Hamid said that Haditha was "targeted Sunday [January 3] by a massive offensive involving more than 40 vehicles, all armored, and some explosives-laden."

14:56 5.1.2016

Libya's National Oil Corp. (NOC) has issued a "cry for help" as IS militants attacked a second oil tank in the country's largest oil port of Sidra today, Bloomberg reports.

"We are helpless and not being able to do anything against this deliberate destruction to the oil installations" in Sidra and the nearby Ras Lanuf oil terminals, NOC said.

"National Oil Corporation urges all faithful and honorable people of this homeland to hurry to rescue what is left from our resources before it is too late."

14:37 5.1.2016

Reuters has more on comments made by U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, the spokesperson for the U.S.-led coalition against IS, in a press conference earlier today.

Warren said that IS territory shrank by 40 percent from its maximum expansion in Iraq and by 20 percent in Syria.

"We believe in Iraq it's about 40 percent ... And Syria, harder to get a good number, we think it's around 20," Warren said.

"Taking together Iraq and Syria .. they lost 30 percent of the territory they once held."

14:34 5.1.2016

London mayor Boris Johnson has said that a small child shown threatening "unbelievers" in a new IS propaganda video should be taken from his parents and placed in foster care if his family ever returns to Britain.

"This child is a victim of child abuse and he is, as I understand it, a British national," Johnson said. "I think we have a duty of care."

The child was identified by his grandfather, who lives in London. The identify of the child and an adult IS militant who appears in the video have not been officially confirmed.

14:28 5.1.2016

The IS-linked 'Amaq News Agency has released a video that is says shows images of IS militants in control of oil storage tanks south of Sidra in Libya.

The one-minute and 17 second video has been shared on social media.

13:28 5.1.2016

Il Foglio correspondent Daniele Raineri offers some insight into why IS militants in Libya are attacking oil terminals. If they did gain control of Libya's oil resources, militants would not be able to export oil but would be able to control cash flowing to what they consider a "non-Islamic state."

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