Irbil, Iraq (CNN) Raqqa is perhaps the most isolated, repressed city on earth. Now, more than three years after it was captured by ISIS, chilling new details of the militant stronghold in Syria have emerged.

Satellite images provided to CNN by McKenzie Intelligence Services (MIS) show a city held hostage by terror. The aerial shots show checkpoints, ISIS flags dominating the skyline and bridges cut off from the world by US-led coalition airstrikes, among other intriguing details.

Stuart Ray, an MIS analyst, said the satellite images, taken on March 26, showed signs of normal daily life in Raqqa, and not as much destruction from the airstrikes as might have been expected.

He said the buildings that had been hit seemed to remain relatively intact, as did some of the infrastructure, although that doesn't mean the infrastructure is necessarily working. Ray added that from what can be seen in these snapshots, it did not look like a city damaged by battle, or under siege -- even though the latter is increasingly true.

What the images show

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