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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).

15:04 15.12.2015

French police have arrested a man in Villiers-sur-Marne to the east of Paris considered to be a "peripheral" suspect in the November 13 attacks in the French capital, judiciary sources said.

15:13 15.12.2015

The Iraqi government has demanded the "complete withdrawal" of Turkish forces from its territory, indicating Ankara's partial pullout yesterday from a camp near the IS-controlled northern city of Mosul was not enough.

The cabinet "renewed its firm position on the necessity of a response from neighboring Turkey to the Iraqi demand for a complete withdrawal from Iraqi territory and respect for its national sovereignty," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office said in a statement, AFP reports.

15:17 15.12.2015

There is no update in the Russian media yet about any outcome of today's talks between U.S.Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Meanwhile Russia's Zvezda military television is reporting that Kerry has bought matryoshkas and amber for 35,000 rubles in Moscow's Old Arbat Street.

And cartoonist Sergey Elkin tweeted this cartoon, with the comment, "Who knows -- why did John Kerry come?"

15:21 15.12.2015

RIA Novosti has this breaking news from the talks between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Lavrov has said that talks are ongoing about the possibility of a meeting in New York regarding Syria on Friday.

15:25 15.12.2015

This just in from AFP.

Last month in the wake of the November 13 Paris attacks European Union interior ministers discussed tightening the external borders of the passport-free Schengen area after it emerged that the man thought to be the ringleader of the attacks traveled undetected from Syria to France.

15:28 15.12.2015

The United States has said that a Saudi-based alliance which Riyadh says will target terrorist groups was in line with its calls for greater involvement by Sunni Muslim countries to combat the IS group, AFP reports.

"We look forward to learning more about what Saudi Arabia has in mind in terms of this coalition," U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told journalists at Incirlik in Turkey.

15:34 15.12.2015

Russia's Life News -- which has links to the country's security services -- finally has an update on the talks today between U.S.Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

But it's not about the discussions on Syria.

Instead, Life News says that Lavrov told its correspondent that he had gifted Kerry a toy Grandfather Frost -- the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus.

"He came to the talks, and there was a Christmas tree. He immediately rushed over to the Grandfather Frost that was hanging there and began to twirl it. I said, that according to the laws of hospitality, whatever a guest liked he could have. He said, "no, no, I'm going to the Arbat, I'm going to buy New Year gifts there. But all the same we gave him the Grandfather Frost," Life News claims Lavrov said.

15:40 15.12.2015

Powerful Syrian militant Zahran Alloush, who leads the Army of Islam in Damascus has spoken to the Daily Beast including about accusations that he is "just another dictator in Islamic garb."

This is what he had to say about the United States:

America is a powerful country and it can play a major role to end the Syrian conflict if it wants. But the current administration refuses to play this role and acts with cold blood when it comes to Syria. It has failed to respond effectively to Assad’s massacres and we saw that obviously when Assad crossed the “red-line” on the use of chemical weapons. America was able to stop the chemical attacks, but it didn’t care.

When America demanded Assad to pull his army out of Lebanon, Assad had to do that in few days, though being in Lebanon was very essential and important for his regime. Even if the administration didn’t want to intervene directly, it is still able to support the real revolutionary groups which are capable of toppling Assad and at the same time defeating ISIS. Instead, it is promoting weak groups and supporting them just to say, ‘We are doing something for Syria.’

15:44 15.12.2015

Nearly a month after a terrorist assault that killed 20 people, the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali's capital of Bamako has reopened.

The militant group Al-Mourabitoun claimed that it carried out the attack in cooperation with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

An Al-Qaeda member confirmed last month that the attack had been carried out by a group loyal to Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an Algerian operative for Al-Qaeda.

15:48 15.12.2015

A Danish prosecutor has charged a 23-year-old man with violating Danish terrorism laws by joining the IS group in 2013, AP reports.

The unidentified man is also charged with supporting IS financially because he intended to bring $3,000 when he planned to return to Syria in 2014, but was stopped by Danish police.

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