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Syrian regime destroys Aleppo water station

September 30, 2016 at 12:00 pm

A water station in opposition-held eastern Aleppo was destroyed by bombing today, dealing a further blow to a water system already badly damaged during a week-long offensive by the Syrian regime to take back the city’s districts from the opposition.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the bombardment was conducted by government forces that had been fighting rebels in the Suleiman Al-Halabi area.

A Syrian military source, however, told Reuters that rebels had blown it up as they sensed they may face defeat in that area.

However, Assad regime attacks against water pumping stations in Aleppo are nothing new.

Last Friday, Russian-backed Syrian airstrikes dealt a blow to the besieged eastern districts of the city’s water supply, with the UN reporting that such attacks risked leaving close to two million people without water.

In relation to last week’s attacks, UNICEF spokesman Kieran Dwyer told the BBC that the lack of running water could be “catastrophic,” and that pumping stations had been damaged by attacks with subsequent strikes making repairs impossible.