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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).

16:29 20.11.2015

Hostages are leaving the Radisson Blu hotel right now, the BBC's Faisal Irshaid has just tweeted.

16:43 20.11.2015

Sky News has pictures from inside the Radisson Blu in Bamako, Mali where the hostages have now been freed. So far 27 people have been reported killed.

16:49 20.11.2015

U.S. troops were not involved in the raid on the Radisson Blu in Bamako that ended the siege, a U.S. defense official has told ABC News.

17:01 20.11.2015

The gunmen in the Mali hotel siege sorted hostages by their faith, according to Kassim Traore, a Malian journalist who was in a building about 50 meters from the siege.

The New York Times writes that Traore "said the attackers had told hostages to recite a declaration of Muslim faith as a way separating Muslims from non-Muslims. Those who could recite the declaration, the Shahada, were allowed to leave the hotel."

As the New York Times points out, The Shabab, a Qaeda affiliate in East Africa, used a similar vetting process to differentiate Muslims from non-Muslims in the attack at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in 2013.

17:22 20.11.2015

This ends our November 20 live blogging of the aftermath of the aftermath of the attacks in Paris and of the hotel siege in Mali. Be sure to check back here on Monday November 23 for our continuing coverage.

For more articles on Islamic State and global terror, please go to our Under The Black Flag blog.

09:15 23.11.2015

The BBC has tweeted this photo of British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande visiting the Bataclan concert hall in Paris where 90 people were killed on November 13 by IS attackers.

09:21 23.11.2015

British Prime Minister David Cameron has tweeted that he and French President Hollande are "united" in their "determination to defeat the evil death cult" of IS.

Cameron tweeted earlier that he had "stood shoulder to shoulder" with Hollande outside Bataclan in Paris.

After laying a wreath at Bataclan, the two leaders had talks at the Elysee Palace. Hollande was expected to tell the British Prime Minister about plans for an international coalition to defeat IS.

09:28 23.11.2015

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who is in Paris this morning to pay tribute to the 130 victims of the November 13 Paris attacks and for talks with French President Hollande, is thought to be pushing for parliamentary support for British air strikes on Syria.

In an article in this morning's Daily Telegraph, Cameron wrote that the Paris attacks "reminded us so starkly [that] Islamic State is not some remote problem thousands of miles away; it is a direct threat to our security."

Cameron added that in the next few days he will be "making the case for Britain to join our international allies in going after [IS] at their headquarters in Syria, not just Iraq."

"We cannot leave the burden and risks of protecting our country to others. Such action would be one key element of a comprehensive, long-term strategy to defeat [IS], in parallel with a major international effort to bring an end to the war in Syria," Cameron wrote.

Britain has so far participated in air strikes against IS only in Iraq.

09:31 23.11.2015

Belgium is keeping Brussels on maximum alert today, saying that it still faces a serious and imminent threat of attacks like the ones in Paris that killed 130 people on November 13.

Prime Minister Charles Michel has said the Brussels metro, universities and schools will remain closed today.

09:33 23.11.2015

Despite 19 raids and 16 arrests overnight, Belgian national Salah Abdeslam has still not been found and remains on the loose today.

Abdeslam is wanted in connection with the November 13 Paris attacks.

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