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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).

09:36 23.11.2015

The Financial Times is reporting that Belgian stocks are holding up "relatively well" this morning despite Brussels entering its third day of lockdown after the Belgium's prime minister warned for a "serious and imminent" threat of Paris-style attacks.

09:40 23.11.2015

The BBC's Katya Adler has tweeted that Belgium's Interior Minister says that as the antiterror operations are continuing in the country it is "hard to say" what action the government will take tomorrow or the day after.

09:46 23.11.2015

Belgians have responded to a request from police to refrain from tweeting about the antiterror raids ongoing in the country by tweeting humorous pictures of cats instead, using the hashtag #BrusselsLockdown

The request for a social media blackout was presumably to make it harder for suspects to obtain real-time information about where the police operations were happening.

Twitter users from around the world are also posting cat pictures in solidarity with the people (and cats) of Brussels.

10:08 23.11.2015

The Wall Street Journal is reporting on another impact of the November 13 Paris attacks -- French economic growth slowed following the attacks and the subsequent tightening of security, according to surveys.

10:10 23.11.2015

AFP have tweeted these images of Belgian troops patrolling in Brussels today.

10:19 23.11.2015

British Prime Minister David Cameron has issued a press statement following his meeting this morning with French President Hollande.

Cameron said that he and Hollande discussed ways to strengthen counter-terrorism cooperation between London and Paris and work together to defeat IS.

Cameron also slammed the lack of information and intelligence sharing among EU countries, saying that it was "frankly ridiculous we can get more information from countries outside the EU than we can from each other."

A "pan-European effort" was needed to "tackle the threat of returning foreign fighters," he added.

Cameron also said that he supports striking IS in Syria but added "that will be a decision for Parliament to make.

In the meantime, the UK has offered France the use of RAF Akrotiri, a Royal Air Force station on Cyprus, for French aircraft engaged in anti-IS operations as well as additional assistance with air-to-air refuelling.

Cameron said that he and Hollande had also discussed "ongoing efforts to secure a political solution in Syria."

10:40 23.11.2015

The BBC's Charlotte Gallagher says that there were barely any cars or people on the streets in central Brussels this morning, amid a security lockdown.

Christmas music is playing in one of the few shops open in the city center -- but there are hardly any shoppers.

10:52 23.11.2015

Belgium's Sudpresse is reporting that police chased a suspect BMW 5 series car last night at around 19:30 local time in Rocourt, a suburb of the Belgian town of Liege.

The car was later found at around midnight abandoned in a street in Rocourt, and police then building in front of where the vehicle had been parked. The driver of the car is apparently still on the run.

But there are no indications that the driver was Salah Abdeslam, the subject of a major international manhunt in connection with the November 13 Paris terror attacks, and there was no indication that Abdelslam was in the raided building, Sudpresse says.

10:57 23.11.2015

As French President Hollande continues his push to create an international anti-IS coalition, French war planes could begin fresh strikes on IS positions today from an aircraft carrier that has been sent to the eastern Mediterranean to boost French strikes against the militant group.

France's Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has said the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier will be ready for anti-IS air strikes from today.

11:06 23.11.2015

French police are appealing for assistance from the public to identify the third attacker who blew himself up outside the Stade de France on November 13.

The Police Nationale issued the first picture of the man in a tweet but few other details about him have been released. The police did not name the man.

The BBC say that the picture matches that on arrivals papers for a man who entered the island of Leros in Greece on October 3, saying he was a Syrian refugee. He reportedly bought ferry tickets to leave Leros to continue on through Europe.

The man was traveling under the name of M. al-Mahmod, the BBC say.

Two other attackers blew themselves up outside the Stade de France. One has been identified as Bilal Hadfi, a Belgian national, and another was a man carrying a Syrian passport with the name "Ahmed Almohamed."

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