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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).

17:59 22.1.2016

British Mom Fled Syria On Foot Clutching Her Toddler Son

A British mother accused of taking her toddler to Syria to join the IS group has told a court how she fled the country on foot, holding her son.

Tareena Shakil said that she escaped to Turkey after catching a bus and bribing a taxi driver before running for the border.

Shakil denies joining IS and says she went to Syria to live under Sharia law.

17:57 22.1.2016

IS Claims Responsibility For Cairo Attack That Killed Nine

The IS militant group has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack that killed nine people in Cairo.

In a statement on social media, it said its fighters carried out the operation that killed six policemen and three others during a raid on a booby-trapped home on January 21 near the site of Egypt's pyramids.

17:38 22.1.2016

17:37 22.1.2016

17:35 22.1.2016

Turkey Alarmed By Reports Of Russian Military Build-Up On Syrian Border

AFP has more on the reports that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed alarm at reports that Russia is building up forces in northern Syria near the Turkish border.

"We have said this from the beginning: we won't tolerate such formations (in northern Syria) along the area stretching from the Iraqi border up to the Mediterranean," Erdogan told reporters after Friday prayers in Istanbul.

17:32 22.1.2016

More photos of the fires today in oil storage tanks in Libya's Ras Lanuf oil terminal, which was attacked by the IS group yesterday.

17:18 22.1.2016

The U.S.-led coalition against the IS group says that its targeting of IS's financial infrastructure is having an effect on the group's ability to sustain themselves.

17:13 22.1.2016

U.S.-Led Coalition Announces Results Of Assessments Of Civilian Casualties

The U.S.-led coalition fighting the IS group in Iraq and Syria has tweeted this response to a closed assessment of civilian casualties caused by its air strikes:

16:56 22.1.2016

16:55 22.1.2016

The president of Libya's internationally recognized House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, has condemned yesterday's attack by the IS group on Libya's oil facilities at Ras Lanuf and called on the army to support the Petroleum Facilities Guard, the militia tasked with protecting Libya's oil installations.

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