Fighting in Syria’s Aleppo leaves 2 million without water

The battle for Syria’s contested city of Aleppo has crippled its infrastructure and left 2 million residents without running water, the UN children’s agency says Tuesday.

The dire warning comes as Syrian activists say government warplanes are bombarding opposition-held parts of the city and the United Nations calls for a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting so that electricity and water networks can be repaired. Rival parties, however, are seen bringing in reinforcements to Aleppo ahead of an expected new round of fighting after opposition groups breached a government-imposed siege and cut a key government route to the city over the weekend.

The battle for Aleppo, the country’s largest city and former commercial heart, is pivotal for the Syrian civil war.

On Tuesday, two UN aid officials, Yacoub El Hillo and Kevin Kennedy, say in a statement that water and electricity infrastructure has been damaged in the fighting. They say the total number of civilians living in “de facto fear of besiegement” is now over two million.

— AP