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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).

18:01 11.1.2016

There are conflicting reports about the events in eastern Baghdad, where unknown gunmen have stormed a shopping mall after setting off a car bomb.

The Wall Street Journal's Matt Bradley says that, contrary to some of the initial reports, no hostages have been taken.

17:58 11.1.2016

The U.S. and Russian foreign ministers spoke by telephone about topics including the Syrian political process and the fight against IS militants, the U.S. State Department has said.

17:57 11.1.2016

Bosnian police detained five people on suspicion of planning to join the IS group and seized a cache of weapons and ammunition in raids in the northwest of the country today, police said according to Reuters. One of the five was later released.

17:45 11.1.2016

Syria Direct reports on the situation in Madayan and explains the background to the truce with the Syrian government that resulted in today's humanitarian aid being allowed to enter the town.

Syria Direct have also interviewed Amr a-Sheikh, a member of Madaya's opposition council in charge of overseeing aid to Madaya.

A few truckloads of food is not a solution, says a-Sheikh. “This morning, two more people died from starvation,” he said, bringing the total number of starvation deaths in the town to 60.

“The besieged people of Madaya do not care about the arrival of aid as much as they care about the opening of the road and a settlement to end the blockade once and for all,” says a-Sheikh.

17:39 11.1.2016

AFP is reporting that the gunmen who detonated a car bomb, fired into a crowded area and took hostages in an eastern Baghdadi shopping mall are still holed up in the mall.

"They are inside the Zahrat Baghdad mall. When the security forces got too close, they killed three hostages," a police official said.

"We are taking a cautious approach now. We want this attack to end with the lowest possible number of casualties," the official said.

He described the mall as a building of four or five floors in a busy commercial area of Baghdad al-Jadida, a populous Shi'ite-majority area on the eastern edge of the Iraqi capital.

17:35 11.1.2016

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has tweeted this update about the situation in Madaya, Syria, where aid trucks have now entered the town.

17:32 11.1.2016

17:30 11.1.2016

The Syrian Red Crescent says that aid trucks entered the Syrian towns of Madaya, Foua and Kefraya simultaneously.

That was part of the deal to allow humanitarian aid trucks to enter Madaya.

17:24 11.1.2016

CNN's Jim Sciutto has this update on the situation in eastern Baghdad, where gunmen stormed a mall.

17:16 11.1.2016

Meanwhile, in France: a 15-year-old boy who attacked a Jewish teacher in Marseille earlier today is a Turkish citizen of Kurdish origin who said he acted in the name of the IS group, the prosecutor in the southern French city of Marseille said

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