ISIS forces Raqqa’s residents to wear Afghan dress

Sources revealed that the Syrian Democratic Troops managed to achieve strategic advance in the eastern countryside of Raqqa at the expense of ISIS extremist group in cooperation with the International Coalition led by the U.S. The advance of Syrian Democratic Troops coincided with intensive bombardment from the International Coalition against ISIS strongholds in the city controlled by the extremist group.

Syrian militias backed by the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State cut the road between the jihadist-held city of Raqqa and Deir al-Zor province in Syria on Monday, a Kurdish military source and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The advance by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) means all land routes out of Raqqa are now cut, and the only remaining way out is south across the Euphrates River, the Kurdish military source said. "It is a big victory but there is still a lot to accomplish," the source said.

The SDF includes the Kurdish YPG militia and allied Arab groups. The spokesman for the SDF could not immediately be reached for comment.

In the same context, the Syrian forces launched more than 10 airstrikes on the Al Waar district, leading to the killing of five citizens and the injury of 15 others, as the clashed continued between the governmental troops on one hand and the extremist militias on the other hand in the surrounding areas of oil fields in Homos’ eastern country side.

AL Waar is the only part of Homs that remained under terrorist control after Syrian Army liberated the city back in May 2014. From time to time, the terrorists stationed in Al Waar would launch rocket attacks on the residential areas of Homs, causing casualties and material damage.

A citizen has been killed due to the drop of mortar shells on Assad district near Harsta city controlled by the governmental troops. The Syrian air forces raided areas in eastern Ghouta with no information about losses.

The Syrian air forces threw bombing barrels on a number of areas in Daraa, with no information about humanitarian losses. Clashes erupted on late Sunday between Islamist factions and Khaled Bin Al Waleed Army at Daraa’s western countryside.

On the other hand, thousands of families are still existed on the borders between the countryside of Raqqa and Aleppo, as they prevent them from leaving the cities to use them as human shields during the coming conflicts. The tactic comes in the framework of consecutive defeats from which the extremist group suffered during the recent period.

On the other hand, ISIS extremists issued a decision to force the residents of Raqqa to wear the Afghani dress, giving them few days to execute the decision. Sources revealed their fears that the decision could come to pave the way for using the city’s civilians as human shields.

The Islamic State group has imposed an "Afghan-style" dress code on men in its Syrian stronghold Raqa to help its fighters blend into the civilian population, a monitor and activists said Monday. "For more than two weeks, Afghan-style clothing has been imposed by Daesh," said Abu Mohamed, an activist with the "Raqa is Being Slaughtered Silently" group, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

The new restriction comes as a Kurdish-Arab alliance of fighters nears Raqa, backed by the US-led coalition launching air strikes against IS. The rule "is an attempt to make it harder for airplanes and the Kurdish forces... to distinguish between civilians and Daesh members," Abu Mohamed said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor of the war, also reported the new rule in Raqa. "The Islamic State has imposed Afghan-style dress on residents of Raqa so that informants giving coordinates to the US-led coalition will not be able to distinguish between civilians and fighters," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

sources said there was a state of alert in Raqa, with new checkpoints springing up and IS arresting anyone who describes the situation as dire.

"Prices are skyrocketing and there is no electricity or water," he told.

The Observatory also said civilians and the families of IS families were attempting to flee into Raqa province from neighbouring Aleppo, where IS is under assault in the east.

"Thousands of families in recent days have tried to reach the administrative borders of Raqa province, along with around 120 families of fighters and commanders of IS," the sources said.

The Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces alliance advancing towards Raqa on Monday cut a key supply route between the city and IS-held territory in Deir Ezzor province to the east.

The alliance is now eight kilometres (five miles) from Raqa to the northeast, according to the Observatory.

It said IS was preventing civilians from entering the province "but granted families of its fighters" a document allowing "passage to Raqa city by boat as ground transportation is now impossible because the bridges across the Euphrates have been destroyed".