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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).

11:33 30.11.2015

More from this morning's joint press briefing by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the Prime Minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoğlu which has just now concluded:

Davutolglu was asked whether Turkey would apologize to Russia for the incident:

-- As Prime Minister of a nation which has dignity and as Prime Minister of a new government I can say that the proection of our air space and land border is not only a right but a duty for our government

-- No Turkish PM would apologise because we did our duty. Our army did its job to protect this airspace.

-- If Russian side wants to talk we are ready, we can give any information regarding technical details of this incident.

-- But no country can ask us to apologise for doing our job.

-- It is contradictory of Russia to use economic sanctions when Russia criticized sanctions against it in Ukraine

-- Russian people are friendly to Turkish people, we expect Russian people to come as tourists to Antalya.

11:36 30.11.2015

And finally some comments from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg who gave a this joint press briefing with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu a few minutes ago regarding the downing by Turkey last week of a Russian warplane near the Syrian border:

-- Turkey shared a lot of information [about the incident] with NATO and NATO allies

-- The information that we have from other sources is consistent with Turkey's asssessment of what happened

-- There is concern over incrased presence of Russian military in Syria and close to NATO borders

-- Turkey has a right to defend itself and its air space

-- I welcome any contacts between Moscow and Ankara

-- Important thing is to calm the tensions

-- Importance of focussing on mechanisms to avoid these kind of incidents in future and if they do happen, to prevent them from escalating

-- Many NATO allies expressed concern over the Russian military in Syria, last week's incident was not first report of violation of Turkish airspace

-- Our focus is now on calming tensions

-- It is the sovereign right of Turkey to defend its air space and territorial integrity

11:38 30.11.2015

Russia's pro-Kremlin news site Life News says Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived late to a photoshoot at the Paris climate summit this morning to avoid seeing his Turkish counterpart, Erdogan.

11:40 30.11.2015

Syria has denied ever using chemical weapons during the civil war, AFP just reported.

There are numerous accusations that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government has used chemical weapons, including in a large-scale attack in August 2013. Damascus has always denied the allegations.

11:53 30.11.2015

Russia is to ban imports of agricultural products, including fruit and vegetables, from Turkey, but there is as yet no restriction on manufactured goods, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said at a government meeting today.

The list of banned goods consists of items that are not critically important for the Russian economy, Shuvalov added.

11:55 30.11.2015

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said that Turkish business has "become a hostage of the politics of its country's leadership."

Medvedev's comments came as Russia's government announced this morning that Moscow is to ban imports of mainly agricultural products from Turkey, in response to the downing of a Russian jet near the Syrian border last week.

12:02 30.11.2015

AFP's Jo Biddle tweets this on Syria's comments denying chemical weapons use at a meeting of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in the Hague today.

12:12 30.11.2015

Russian economic restrictions against Turkey are just a "first step" and the list of banned goods could be expanded if required, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced.

Medvedev said that the economic restrictions must be carried out in a pragmatic manner, to maximize the effect in Turkey while causing minimum damage to Russia.

The economic restrictions were a "neccessary response to the aggressive and unfriendly actions of Turkey," Medvedev was quoted as saying.

12:15 30.11.2015

The British government's official anti-IS Twitter account has tweeted that Turkey has a right to protect its air space.

12:24 30.11.2015

A European Union envoy has criticized Syria for "gaps and contradictions" in its declarations about its chemical weapons arsenal to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), AP reports.

Jacek Bylica of Luxembourg said that lack of clarity from Damascus, "make it impossible to have confidence that its chemical weapons program has been irreversibly dismantled."

The OPCW has a special team reviewing Syria's declarations amid fears that the chemical weapons could fall into the hands of the IS group or other militant groups in Syria.

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