Accessibility links

Breaking News
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).

11:23 2.12.2015

AFP's Katherine Haddon has tweeted this image of the UK's House of Commons agenda for today -- which is taken up by the debate over whether Britain should join the United States, France and others in bombing IS targets in Syria.

11:29 2.12.2015

AFP's correspondent in Ankara is tweeting that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said he agrees to meet with his Turkish counterpart for the first time since last week's downing of a Russian Su-24 jet near the Syrian border.

11:38 2.12.2015

Lavrov 'Won't Evade Contact' With Turkish FM During OSCE Meeting

Russian government daily Rossiskaya Gazeta (RG) has more on Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's potential meeting with his Turkish counterpart.

RG quotes Lavrov as saying that Turkey has proposed a meeting between him and his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Belgrade which starts tomorrow, December 3.

"The Turkish side is strongly urging that a private meeting be arranged with the Turkish foreign minister on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council. We won't evade this contact. We will listen to what Cavusoglu has to say -- perhaps there will be something new compared with what has been said publicly," Lavrov said.

11:45 2.12.2015

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has called Turkey's downing of a Russian war plane near the Syrian border an attempt to derail Syria peace talks in Vienna, due in January.

"It seems that someone really wants to interfere with the political settlement process in Syria and help Islamists prevail in Syria and in the region," Lavrov said in a press conference this morning.

"It is clear that relations between Russia and Turkey in this situation cannot continue on the principle of business as usual, and it is clear that we consider this act by Turkey as against the interests of the war on terrorism."

11:49 2.12.2015

Tweets from the official account of UK Prime Minister David Cameron setting out his position on IS during a parliamentary debate over whether the UK should join the United States, France and others in air strikes on IS in Syria.

12:17 2.12.2015

Russia's Defense Ministry has begun a press briefing entitled "Russian military forces in the war on international terrorism. New information."

Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy is talking about Russian air strikes degrading oil refining, extraction and storage by "terrorist" groups in Syria.

He says that Russian strikes have degraded 32 oil refining complexes, 11 oil refining factories and 23 oil pumping stations.

The strikes have destroyed 1,080 oil tankers that were transporting oil, he said.

As a result, the illegal circulation of oil has reduced by 50 percent and the "terrorists' income from the illegal business has reduced from $3 to $1.5 million dollars per day."

12:20 2.12.2015

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov has said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family are "involved in the system of IS oil supply," pro-Kremlin news site RIA Novosti is reporting.

Russia's Defense Ministry is holding a press briefing right now about Russia's military forces and the "war on international terrorism."

12:24 2.12.2015

Russia's Defense Ministry has said that it will produce proof that Turkey is involved in the IS group's illegal shipments of oil.

Russia made that accusation following the downing last week of a Russian war plane by Turkey near the Syrian border.

It seems that this is a main point of the Defense Ministry's press conference on Russia's military involvement in Syria.

12:26 2.12.2015

The Russian Defense Ministry has presented what it claimed are satellite photos of fuel tankers on the Turkey-Syria border.

The Ministry has promised to post these images on its website for public viewing.

12:29 2.12.2015

The Russian Defense Ministry says its satellite photos show 1,722 oil tankers parked in eastern regions of Syria and that Russia is aware of three routes for oil shipments by IS to Turkey.

Load more

XS
SM
MD
LG