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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Residents of rebel-held eastern Aleppo say it has been subjected to the most ferocious bombardment of the war since the Damascus government declared a new offensive that has killed dozens of people in the last two days.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday that troops and pro-government Palestinian fighters have captured the Handarat camp north of the city.
Rebel officials said heavy air strikes on Saturday hit at least four areas of the opposition-held east, home to more than 250,000 people.
Seven people were killed in a strike on the Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood as they queued to buy yoghurt at a market.
The attack has drawn on ordnance more destructive than anything previously used against the area and many buildings have been destroyed, residents say.
The capture of Handarat camp “comes as a result of intensive bombardment by regime forces and the fierce, continuous bombardment by Russian and regime warplanes”, the Observatory said in a report. Images of blast sites show craters several metres wide and deep. A young girl was pulled out alive from a collapsed building in the city’s Bab al-Nairab neighborhood early Friday, according to Ibrahim Alhaj, a rescue worker with the Syrian Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets.
The group says it has just two fire engines left for all of east Aleppo which, like its ambulances, are struggling to move around the city.
“It is critical for children’s survival that all parties to the conflict stop attacks on water infrastructure, provide access to assess and fix damage to Bab al-Nayrab station, and switch the water back on at the Suleiman al-Halabi station”, it said.
Lavrov called for an investigation of the incident, repeating that Russian or Syrian air forces were not involved in the attack.
Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and one-time commercial center, has been contested since July 2012, but in recent weeks its eastern rebel-held neighborhoods have been under siege by government forces and their allies.
Russian and United States efforts to resuscitate a Syrian ceasefire that collapsed after seven days remain stalled.
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Kerry said they had made “a little bit of progress” on resolving their differences over the Syrian crisis. We’re evaluating some mutual ideas in a constructive way, ‘ Kerry said of his talks on Friday with Russia’s top diplomat.
