On the morning of 11 February 2016, the Syrian Arab Army's 555th Brigade of the 4th Mechanized Division, along with the National Defense Forces (NDF), Liwaa Suqour Al-Sahra (Desert Hawks Brigade), Kataebat Al-Ba'ath (Al-Ba'ath Battalions), and Fouj Al-Joulan (Golani Regiment), launched an offensive eastward to recapture the Ithriyah-Raqqa Road that leads to the Tabqa Military Airport.

[13] The next day, after an 8-hour battle that started in the early morning hours, government troops captured Tal Al-'Alam hill, four kilometers from Marina.

During this operation, ISIL cut the road for seven days and captured the strategic town of Khanasir, before the Army managed to retake all areas they had lost along the highway.

[17][18] Later on the same day, the Syrian Army captured the last point on the Sheikh Hilal-Ithriya Road that was held by ISIL, thus reopening the supply route.

[19] On 3 March, the Syrian Army recaptured all points they had to abandon at the Zakiyah crossroad days earlier, due to the cutting of the supply route.