Severe Water Shortage in Aleppo after Pipe Destroyed

Aleppo was suffering from severe drinking water shortages on Saturday after a main pipeline was destroyed in a northern district of the city, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"A main water line was destroyed near the water department in Bustan al-Basha. This is very important because it provides drinking water to the whole city," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse by phone.

"We cannot say how it was ruptured, but there were air strikes and clashes between the army and rebels in the area," he added.

The Local Coordination Committees, a network of opposition activists on the ground, blamed the pipe burst on regime air attacks.

In a video released by the LCC, torrent of water can be seen flowing through rubble-covered streets and into the ground floor of a building.

A description of the video said a regime plane "destroyed the main drinking water supply for the city of Aleppo and floods of water have covered most of the streets in Midan and Bustan al-Basha" districts.

A local resident told AFP by phone that half of the city was without water, with the cuts felt most in the east and north.

"There is a problem, but I don't know what kind of problem it is. We cannot send a team or inspect or repair it right now," the head of the local water department told journalists.

Fierce clashes broke out earlier on Saturday as rebels tried to storm the regime-controlled district of Midan from their stronghold in Bustan al-Basha, a local military source said.