Air strikes in Syria leave Aleppo without water

The UN children's agency says fierce strikes on Friday prevented repairs to a damaged pumping station supplying rebel-held eastern areas of the city.

In retaliation, the agency says, a nearby station pumping water to the rest of Aleppo has been switched off.

The Syrian army says it is determined to retake rebel-held areas in Aleppo, after a ceasefire collapsed on Monday.

Kieran Dwyer, a spokesman for the UN's children's agency Unicef, told the BBC: "Water is no longer pumping to people in eastern Aleppo and western Aleppo, all across Aleppo, nearly two million people."

He added that this could be "catastrophic" for residents who have to resort to contaminated water and will be at risk from water-borne diseases.

He said water was being used as a weapon of war by all sides. The pumping station supplying rebel-held parts of Aleppo was damaged on Thursday and subsequent strikes had made repairs impossible, Mr Dwyer said.

"That pumping station pumps water to the entire population of the eastern part of city - that's at least 200,000 people and then in retaliation for that attack a nearby pumping station that pumps water to the entire western part of the city - upwards to 1.5 million people - that was deliberately switched off," he told the BBC.

Activists said both Syrian and Russian warplanes had been taking part in the latest offensive, though Russia has not confirmed its involvement.

Russia supports the Syrian government, while the US backs the opposition. The two powers accuse each other of failing to rein in their respective allies on the ground.

A seven-day truce brokered by the US and Russia collapsed on Monday.