Beirut — The U.S.-led coalition said on Friday the capture of the Islamic State’s onetime de facto Syria capital of Raqqa marked a turning point in the fight against the extremist group, effectively declaring an end to the military operation there.

A U.S.-backed force known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, has been clearing the final pockets of the resistance in the city since proclaiming victory over the Islamic State on Tuesday.

“Daesh’s loss of Mosul and now Raqqah are turning points for the terrorist organization whose leaders grow ever more distant from a dwindling number of terrorist adherents,” said the coalition in a statement, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State.

Three years after seizing a swath of land the size of Belgium across Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State no longer holds any major cities and is clinging to only one sizable stretch of territory spanning the border between the two countries.

The group had used its self-declared caliphate to raise revenue through taxes, extortion and the sale of oil. Analysts said the group would now shift back to its guerrilla roots, seeking to capitalize on unresolved social divisions across Syria and Iraq, a strategy that allowed it to win a degree of popular support in the first place.

The battle for Raqqa began in June, with the SDF advancing on foot as U.S.-led coalition airstrikes pummeled Islamic State positions from above.

Much of the city now lies in ruins. The water supply and electricity grid have been shattered. According to monitoring groups, more than 1,000 civilians have been killed in the fight.

The SDF used a news conference on Friday inside Raqqa’s main stadium to call on the international community to commit the necessary funds to support an incoming civilian council and return the city to a habitable state.

“We call upon all countries and peace-loving forces and all humanitarian organizations to participate in rebuilding the city and villages around it and help in removing the scars of war that were inflicted by the Islamic State,” said Talal Sillo, a spokesman and senior SDF commander.

The full cost of reconstructing Raqqa city remains unknown and international donor funding is publicly earmarked only for short-term projects.

More than 270,000 people had fled the city since June. Many are camped across a network of poorly supplied displacement camps with few hopes of being able to return home anytime soon.