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This Is What Daily Life Looks Like Inside The Islamic State [VIDEO]

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Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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Satellite imagery of the Islamic State’s capital in Raqqa reveals an increasingly isolated city preparing for assault, CNN reports.

The images show ISIS’s headquarters surrounded by two separate checkpoints and nearby buildings are collapsed due to U.S. airstrikes. Other images reveal U.S. strikes on bridges to cut off ISIS supply lines, and massive tarps hung up above central Raqqa to avoid U.S. drone strikes.

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ISIS is also reportedly making all the males inside Raqqa dress the same to deter surveillance. The move is just one in a series of moves by the terror group designed to deter U.S. operations by means of civilians trapped inside the city. The group has now encircled the entire city of Raqqa with land mines and checkpoints, and is also forcing residents to camp out in tents in the middle of the street.

The preparations also include ferrying European fighters to safer locations, so they may be sent abroad to carry out terrorist operations if the caliphate falls. The group is applying many of the urban defense lessons from the battle for Mosul to its defenses of Raqqa.

ISIS’s actions are likely preparations for the coming U.S.-backed assault on the city. The Trump administration has significantly escalated the U.S. role in Syria and is hitting the city of Raqqa with airstrikes daily to shape the battlefield for the coming assault by the Syrian Democratic Forces. U.S. Army Gen. Joseph Votel indicated before Congress Wednesday that the Trump administration would rely on local forces to do the ground fighting against ISIS with significant U.S. assistance.

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