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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).

09:48 11.2.2016

IS video appears to show four-year-old British child blowing up 'spies'

A grisly new IS killing video appears to show a British child being made to blow up three hostages whom IS alleged were British spies.

The child in the video looks like Isa Dare, a four-year-old boy whose mother Grace Dare has joined the IS group in Syria.

The boy is shown appearing to press a button on a detonator after which a car containing three IS hostages explodes.

Before he presses the detonator, the child is filmed shouting about "infidels" and pointing his finger before the three orange-clad prisoners are shown tied up in the car.

Before the execution-style killing the three prisoners are filmed giving "confessions" about being spies.

An adult IS militant with a British accent gives a speech addressed to the British Prime Minister David Cameron, in which he says that the hostages in the car are spies.

"Firstly, when you sent your spies to Syria and when you authorized for your men, thousands of miles away, to push a button to kill our brothers who lived in the West," the militant says, according to The Independent.

"So today, we're going to kill your spies the same way they helped you kill our brothers"

The adult militant then gestures to the child, who presses the button on the detonator.

Isa Dare has appeared in a previous IS killing video last month in which he talked of killing non-believers. His grandfather, Henry Dare, recognized the child as his grandson.

Isa's mother, Grace Dare, who is a convert to Islam and was radicalized in London tweeted in 2014 that she wanted to become the first woman to "kill a UK or US terrorist."

09:08 11.2.2016

NATO pledge to hit IS harder -- which could include in Libya

Military action against the IS group in Libya will be on the agenda when 45 Defense Ministers meet at NATO headquarters in Brussels later today, Sky News reports.

19:10 10.2.2016

We are now closing the live blog for today. We'll be back Tracking Islamic State tomorrow morning.

17:17 10.2.2016

Tara Nettleton, widow of notorious Australian IS militant, dies in Syria

Tara Nettleton, the widow of Australian IS militant Khaled Sharrouf, has died in Syria, the Australian press is reporting.

Nettleton, also an Australian, is thought to have died some time ago from complications from appendicitis, after she was not able to access life-saving health services.

She is thought to have been living in IS's Syrian stronghold of Raqqa with her four children and one grandchild.

Nettleton's husband Sharrouf is believed to have died last year. Initial reports said that he was killed in an air strike in June, but later evidence suggested he was killed some time later in July.

Sharrouf became notorious after he tweeted a photo of his son holding the severed head of a Syrian soldier.

It is believed that Sharrouf married Tara's eldest daughter Zaynab to an IS militant Mohammed Elomar, who was killed in June.

16:48 10.2.2016

British man jailed after going to Syria to fight alongside IS

A 29-year-old British man has been jailed for seven years after traveling to Syria to fight alongside the IS group.

Mohammed Uddin traveled to Syria in November 2014 with the intention of joining IS and fighting alongside the extremist group, a South East Counter Terrorism spokesman said.

Uddin crossed back into Turkey just over a month later, in December 2014, but was arrested in Gaziantep.

16:40 10.2.2016

The Telegraph's Louisa Loveluck has spoken with Syrian refugees and aid workers at the Kilis border crossing in Turkey, where people have fled fighting in Syria's Aleppo province.

16:03 10.2.2016

Syrian opposition calls for end to sieges and air strikes if talks to be resumed

The Syrian opposition has called for an end to sieges on civilian areas of Syria and to air strikes on civilians if peace talks are to be resumed on Feb. 25.

"Before we go on February 25 those measures should be implemented in reality on the land," Riad Hijab, chief coordinator of the opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), told reporters in London this afternoon.

Hijab, who spoke after a meeting with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, added that the opposition wants aid to be let through to civilians.

16:00 10.2.2016

Riad Hijab, chief coordinator of the Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), paid a visit today to the UK parliament.

Hijab met with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond who tweeted that he had agreed with Hijab that political transition away from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was "vital for Syria."

Hijab said that the Syrian opposition wanted a secular future for all Syrians with a parliamentary system.

15:56 10.2.2016

Georgia's Foreign Minister Tina Khidasheli tweets that Georgia was informed that Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov planned to make a statement about Pankisi, and that's why Tbilisi invited media representatives to visit the gorge.

15:24 10.2.2016

The spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against IS, U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, has mentioned a report by the UN that says Russian and Syrian government air strikes have destroyed two hospitals in Aleppo.

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