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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).

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.

12:01 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.

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.

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."

11:22 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.

11:20 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.

11:18 11.1.2016

As the first images of Paris attacks fugitive Saleh Abdeslam during his flight from Paris to Brussels on November 14 emerge, AFP reports this morning on the financial impact of the November 13 attacks.

Franco-Dutch airline group Air France-KLM said Monday that the November 13 terror attacks in Paris reduced its December turnover by an estimated 70 million euros ($76.42 million).

But the effect had largely tailed off over the past two weeks, it added.

11:15 11.1.2016

The first images have emerged of Paris attacks fugitive Saleh Abdeslam fleeing to Belgium in the immediate aftermath of the November 13 attacks, French TV news channel BFMTV, which published the images this morning, is reporting.

The images were taken by a CCTV camera in a gas station on the Belgian border on the morning of November 14 and show Abdeslam with Mohammed Amri, one of the two accomplices who took him from Paris to Brussels.

Abdeslam and his accomplices Hamza Attou and Mohammed Amri stopped at the gas station during the journey, where they refueled their Golf car before traveling on. Le Figaro notes that the men did not bother to cover their faces.

The trio spent 12 minutes in the gas station where Abdeslam, knowing that he was not (yet) a wanted man, appeared relaxed, and strolled around with his hands in his pockets, BFMTV reports.

11:02 11.1.2016

From our news desk:

Humanitarian Aid To Enter Besieged Syrian Towns

Humanitarian aid will enter the besieged Syrian town of Madaya, where aid groups say residents are starving to death.

Emergency food supplies had been due to be sent to the rebel-held town on January 10 but the operation was delayed.

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Syria said aid would arrive in Madaya and two northern towns besieged by rebels, Foua and Kefraya, on January 11.

There are about 40,000 people in Madaya, near Lebanon's border, with residents said to be eating pets and grass to survive.

The medical charity Doctor Without Borders (MSF) warned that Madaya needed a constant supply of aid, not just a single delivery.

MSF warned on January 10 that residents were suffering from continuing starvation and shortages of medical supplies.

11:00 11.1.2016

LIbyan news websites are also reporting this morning the unconfirmed reports from residents of Sirte that unidentified planes bombed IS positions in the Sirte area.

One Libyan Twitter account posted an image claiming to show one of the strikes. The image has not been verified.

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