Rescue workers work the site of airstrikes in al-Mashhad neighborhood in the rebel-held part of eastern Aleppo, Syria. Photo / AP
A humanitarian catastrophe is looming in Aleppo after two days of relentless Russian and Syrian government airstrikes left two million people without running water, the United Nations warned.
Hundreds of thousands of children in both the government-held western and opposition-controlled eastern parts of the city are facing a "catastrophic" outbreak
of disease after bombs damaged one pumping station and another was switched off, Unicef said.
"It is critical for children's survival that all parties to the conflict stop attacks on water infrastructure, provide access to assess and repair damage to Bab al-Nayrab station, and switch the water back on at the Suleiman al-Halabi station," said Hanaa Singer, the Unicef representative in Syria, said.
The warning came as Syrian Government forces pushed into opposition held parts of the city under cover of a ferocious Russian and regime aerial bombardment that killed more than 150 people in 48 hours.
"We don't have water now because we think the pipes have been targeted by new rockets," said Abdulkafi al-Hamdo, an English teacher in the city. "Believe me, people don't think they will live another day. "The destruction we are seeing now was brought by the cursed ceasefire. The US must use its might, not just its words, to stop our suffering," he said.
