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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).

11:21 18.2.2016

The World Food Programme tweeted this photo of children in the besieged Syrian town of Moadamiya al-Sham, after desperately-needed humanitarian aid was delivered yesterday.

11:08 18.2.2016

MSF: Syrian gov't not given GPS data of hospital hit by strike

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has said that it decided not to formally inform the Syrian government or its Russian allies about the location of some of its medical facilities like the one in Marat al-Numan in Idlib province that was destroyed in a deadly airstrike this week, AP report.

MSF said that repeated attacks against hospitals and other facilities during the Syrian civil war has led medical staffers to ask MSF not to give GPS coordinates of some facilities.

11:03 18.2.2016

MSF seeks independent enquiry into bombing of Syria hospital

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has called for an independent investigation into airstrikes that killed 25 people at an MSF-sponsored hospital in Syria's Idlib province, Reuters report.

MSF's international president Dr. Joanne Liu said that there was a probability that the airstrikes were carried out by the government-led alliance.

"We say probability because we don't have more facts than the accounts from our staff," Liu told a news briefing.

"The only thing predominantly in the region is the Syrian government-led coalition."

11:01 18.2.2016

U.S.-led strikes kill 15 civilians in northeast Syria: activists

AFP has more on the reports that U.S.-led airstrikes in northeast Syria today have killed 15 civilians, including three children.

AFP is quoting the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights who say that the strikes hit four IS-controlled villages in Hasakah province.

Nine IS militants were also killed in the strikes, according to SOHR.

SOHR say that since Feb. 16, a total of 38 civilians have been killed by U.S.-led strikes on IS-controlled areas of Hasakah province including 15 in the town of Al-Shadadi on Feb. 16 and eight in an IS-controlled village on Feb. 17.

The coalition has reportedly stepped up airstrikes in Hasakah province, AFP say, amid a new operation by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces alliance in the south of the province.

10:17 18.2.2016

No-fly zone unlikely to help 'our war on terror' near Aleppo: Kremlin spokesman

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that the creation of a no-fly zone in northern Syria will not help combat terrorism there, RIA Novosti reports.

Peskov was responding to comments by German Chancellor Angela Merkel who said on Feb. 17 that some kind of no-fly zone could help ease the humanitarian situation in northern Aleppo province.

"The thing is that active operations are being carried out there, aimed at fighting terrorist organizations, who are also hiding out in those areas, so these sorts of things [no fly zones] would be unlikely to contribute to the effectiveness of our war on terrorism," Peskov said.

10:10 18.2.2016

U.S.-led strikes kill 15 civilians in northeast Syria: monitor

10:07 18.2.2016

WATCH: Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces condemn Ankara bombing

The Kurdish (YPG) led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have issued a video statement condemning yesterday's deadly bombing in Ankara.

The written text of the statement shared with the video says that: "Yesterday civilians were targeted in Ankara, we in the Syrian Democratic Forces strongly condemn the targeting of unarmed civilians in Ankara, and we call on the forces that carried out this non-human action whoever they are to stop these acts of terror.We also call on the international community to intensify its efforts in the fight against terrorism and to uproot it."

09:58 18.2.2016

PYD tweets official statement denying involvement in Ankara bombing

The Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) has tweeted the official statement by the leader of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) denying involvement in yesterday's deadly bomb blast in Ankara.

Muslim said that "we do not have anything to do with the bombing in Ankara and we do not interfere in Turkey's internal affairs."

09:55 18.2.2016

Turkey says Syrian gov't directly responsible for Ankara bombing

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said that the Syrian government is directly responsible for the Feb. 17 bomb blast in Ankara, which killed at least 28 and injured 61.

“The YPG [People’s Protection Units] is a tool of the Syrian regime and the regime is directly responsible for this attack. The right to take all kinds of measures against the Syrian regime is reserved for us,” Davutoglu told reporters this morning, Hurriyet reports.

09:51 18.2.2016

Syrian army says recaptures strategic town of Kansaba in Latakia countryside

The Syrian army has said that it has recaptured the strategic town of Kansaba in the northern countryside of Latakia, state news agency SANA is reporting this morning.

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