UN chief denounces water cut in northern Syrian city of Aleppo
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The United Nations chief has condemned a cut in water supplies in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo that he says has deprived at least 2.5 million people of access to potable water.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that preventing people access to safe water denies them a "fundamental right." He said in a statement from his office released late Friday that denying civilians essential supplies is a breach of international and humanitarian law.
The director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group, Rami Abdurrahman, says that rebels from the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front cut water supplies in the city nearly two weeks ago.
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Abdurrahman said Saturday that the group has tried to resume pumping water, but that supplies are erratic and remain largely cut.