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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).

15:18 20.1.2016

Bomb Explodes Near Russian Embassy In Kabul

A suicide bomber has carried out an attack in an area near the Russian embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul, officials say.

There are differing reports of casualties.

One person has been killed and 20 more wounded, according to the BBC. Reuters is quoting police sources as saying that at least 10 people were wounded but there are no reports of fatalities.

Some reports say the explosion was the result of a car bomb.

No group has claimed responsibility. The Taliban has launched attacks on Kabul in the past. Some analysts have suggested that the IS group's Khorasan Province could be responsible.

15:13 20.1.2016

No Military Solution To Syria, Iran's Foreign Minister Says

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said that there is no military solution to the Syrian conflict.

Zarif called for a diplomatic solution.

Syrian peace talks are scheduled to start next week but are under increasing doubt as both sides voice serious disagreements.

15:09 20.1.2016

14:36 20.1.2016

Russia Says It Is Continuing Its Humanitarian Ops In Syria

Amid claims by a monitoring group that Russian air strikes have killed at least 3,000 people since they began in September, Russia's Defense Ministry has said that Russia is continuing with humanitarian operations in rebel-besieged areas in Syria.

Russia air dropped 50 tons of aid into besieged Deir al-Zor on January 15 and another consignment is planned, Defense Ministry official Igor Konashenkov said.

Deir al-Zor is mostly held by the IS group, whose militants are besieging the remaining government-held areas of the city. Residents there said that they fear a "massacre" if IS overruns the entire city.

14:30 20.1.2016

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has taken to Facebook to share her thoughts about the start of Foreign Minister Lavrov's meeting today with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

"Kerry came into the meeting room. He looked at the wide table with an insert and said that it would be good to reduce the distance between the delegations. Then Lavrov entered. They exchanged handshakes, greeted each other and said Happy New Year....

"We shall see," Lavrov replied to a question from journalists about the prospects for the meeting between the Syrian opposition and representatives from Damascus going ahead on Jan. 25. The media left and the meeting started.

Whether it will be possible to reduce the difference between the delegations, and more to the point, between their positions, without reconfiguring the tables, the meeting will show."

14:25 20.1.2016

Russia Carried Out 16 Sorties In Past 24 Hours In Syria

Russian war planes carried out 16 sorties against 57 militant infrastructure targets in Syria in the past 24 hours, the Russian Defense Ministry says.

The Ministry said that because of poor weather conditions and to avoid putting civilians at risk, sorties were carried out only in Latakia and Deir al-Zor provinces.

Meanwhile, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is claiming that some 3,000 people including 893 IS militants have been killed by Russian air strikes since they began at the end of September.

14:17 20.1.2016

Morale High Among Russian Military In Syria: Ministry

Morale is at "the very highest level" among Russian military personnel involved in Russia's mission in Syria, Defense Ministry spokesman Nikolai Pankov has said.

Pankov added that a draft law has been agreed that would confer veteran status on all Russian military personnel involved in the military campaign in Syria.

14:07 20.1.2016

Syria Talks Could Go Ahead On Jan. 25: Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that he has not ruled out that Syria peace talks will start as planned on January 25 in Geneva, RIA Novosti is reporting.

"We shall see," he told journalists before his meeting -- ongoing right now -- in Zurich with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

14:05 20.1.2016

Lavrov, Kerry Begin Meeting To Discuss Syria

Russia's Foreign Ministry says that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has begun a meeting in Zurich with his U.S. counterpart John Kerry.

The main issue on the agenda is Syria and the peace talks set to start next week.

The prospects for the talks are not looking good.

The Syrian opposition has said today that it will not attend if groups invited by Russia attend.

Meanwhile, it announced that one of the opposition figures that will negotiate in talks will be Mohamed Alloush of the Islam Army, which the Syrian government says is a terrorist group.

13:29 20.1.2016

Two Paris Attackers From Iraq, IS Magazine Claims

A magazine published by the IS group has identified two previously unknown militants it says were responsible for the November 13 attacks that killed 130 people in Paris.

The Dabiq magazine identified the two militants as Iraqis, naming them as Ukashah al-Iraqi and Ali al-Iraqi.

Two men who attacked the Stade de France stadium carried fake Syrian passports and have not yet been formally identified, so it is possible that these are the two Iraqis referred to by IS.

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