United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the armed grous Friday for cutting water supplies to the besieged northern Syrian city of Aleppo, calling for services to be restored immediately.
Ban’s office said water supplies had been cut for eight days, depriving at least 2.5 million people of access to water safe for drinking and sanitation.
Al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch, al-Nusra Front, was among the armed groups that cut the supplies, though the Red Crescent said that some services had been restored.
Ban "notes that preventing people’s access to safe water is a denial of a fundamental human right," his office said.
"Deliberate targeting of civilians and depriving them of essential supplies is a clear breach of international humanitarian and human rights law."
Ban called on all parties to "ensure that the water supply in Aleppo - and everywhere in Syria - is permanently restored and to refrain from targeting civilian facilities and infrastructure," the statement added.
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