Almost two million civilians were without water in the devastated northern city after regime bombardment damaged a pumping station and rebels shut down another in retaliation, the United Nations said.
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UNICEF representative in Syria Hanaa Singer said in a statement that the intense attacks have damaged the Bab al-Nairab station, which supplies some 250,000 people in rebel-held eastern parts of Aleppo with water.
In retaliation for the attack, another pumping station was intentionally shut off, cutting off the water supply to 1.5 million people in western Aleppo.
“Depriving children of water puts them at risk of catastrophic outbreaks of water-borne diseases”, Singer warned.
When the U.S. -Russia brokered truce went into effect in Syria on September 12, calm prevailed Aleppo and other Syrian cities, but the violence renewed after the truce expired this Monday. The Observatory said insurgents shelled the government stronghold of Masyaf, home to a large number of Alawites, members of President Bashar Assad’s sect, which until now had largely been spared from violence.
Destruction after an air strike in the rebel-held Ansari district of Aleppo on September 23, 2016. Video of the blast sites show huge craters several meters wide and deep.
Colonel Fares al-Bayoush, head of the Northern Division group, told Reuters he expected rebels to get new types of Russian-made rocket launchers and artillery, but there was no sign of foreign states agreeing to the rebels’ long-held demand for anti-aircraft missiles.
The Syrian army and militia allies seized ground north of Aleppo on Saturday, tightening a siege of the city’s rebel-held east while warplanes bombed it relentlessly in a Russian-backed offensive that has left Washington’s Syria policy in tatters.
Residents say air strikes on eastern Aleppo have been more intense than ever, using more powerful bombs.
The Syrian government had promised, at the onset of the latest offensive, to allow residents of the east to escape to the Assad’s forces-held western districts.
“Our teams are responding, but are not enough to cover this amount of catastrophe.”
The deal has since fallen apart, and on Thursday the Syrian army announced an operation to retake all of Aleppo.
In an interview with the Associated Press news agency, he reaffirmed his government’s position that a deadly strike on an aid convoy in Aleppo on Monday had not been carried out by Syrian or Russian planes.
A senior official in an Aleppo-based rebel faction, the Levant Front, told Reuters the weapons appeared created to bring down entire buildings. Selmo said the death toll was now over 100.
At least 47 people were killed in heavy bombing on Friday, among them seven children, according to the Observatory.
Witnesses say the surge in airstrikes began late Wednesday after the Syrian government announced a renewed offensive to recapture the entire city.
“Every missile makes an quake we feel regardless of how far off the bombardment is”, one Aleppo resident said.
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Activists said both Syrian and Russian warplanes were taking part in the offensive, though Russia has not confirmed its involvement. Residents there reported a renewed wave of airstrikes on Saturday morning.
