GAZIANTEP, Turkey — After the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) cut off the last road that connects Raqqa to Deir ez-Zor city, stretching along 162 kilometers (100 miles) to the east, on March 5, all land supply routes leading to and from Raqqa’s center and constituting the main moving space for the Islamic State (IS) to connect the regions in northern Syria to its east were closed. The SDF controls the area, which is located on the administrative borders of Deir ez-Zor in east Syria, along 30 kilometers (19 miles) from al-Kubr village in the western Deir ez-Zor countryside to the northern bank of the Euphrates River. 

The main road between Raqqa and Aleppo, stretching along 200 kilometers, was blocked after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces took control of al-Khafsa village in al-Bab, in Aleppo’s eastern countryside on the Euphrates’ west bank, March 8.

The main road between Raqqa and Damascus that stretches along 440 kilometers to the south was closed after the pro-regime forces, with Russian support, recaptured from IS control the historic city of Palmyra, 225 kilometers from Raqqa, on March 2.

The road leading from Raqqa to Hasakah and stretching along 190 kilometers to the northeast was closed Dec. 28, after the SDF took Tal Saman village and its power station located in Raqqa’s northern countryside, roughly 27 kilometers from the center of Raqqa.