Lack of Running Water in Aleppo Threatens 2 Million: U.N.

The entire city of Aleppo has been without running water for four days, putting families and children in a “catastrophic situation,” according to UNICEF.

Lack of running water in Aleppo puts children at risk of diseases, the U.N. children’s agency warned on Tuesday, according to BBC News.

“These cuts are coming amid a heatwave, putting children at a grave risk of waterborne diseases. Getting clean water running again cannot wait for the fighting to stop. Children’s lives are in serious danger,” said Hanaa Singer, UNICEF’s representative in Syria.

The U.N. called for a nationwide cease-fire or, alternatively, 48-hour truces every week that would allow aid deliveries for the entire city and fix water and electricity networks. It said 2 million people don’t have basic supplies.

Intense fighting between government and rebel forces continues in Aleppo. Government forces closed the last rebel supply route to the eastern side of the city in July, trapping 300,000 people in the rebel-held neighborhoods. Rebels cut off the government’s main supply route on Sunday.

Turkey Sending a Delegation to Russia to Discuss Syrian Cease-Fire

A Turkish delegation that includes military, intelligence and foreign ministry officials will travel to Russia for talks on Syria, Reuters reported.

Turkey is working with Russia to find a solution in Syria, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. He added that the two countries share close views regarding the need for a cease-fire in Syria, the delivery of humanitarian aid and a political process to end the conflict.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced they’d be speeding up trade and energy ties on Tuesday, in a meeting in St. Petersburg. The meeting is a major move towards normalizing relations between the two countries. Russia imposed sanctions on Turkey nearly nine months ago, after Turkey shot down a Russian airplane near the Syrian border.

Turkey has provided support for armed opposition groups fighting Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Russia is a key ally of the Syrian government, and intervened military on its behalf in September 2015.

Nearly All of Manbij Under Control of U.S.-Backed Alliance, ISIS Militants Pushed Out

So-called Islamic State (ISIS) group militants have been pushed out of 90 percent of Manbij city, Agence France-Presse reported.

The Kurdish-Arab alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launched an offensive on the northern Syrian city in May, backed by U.S.-led coalition air power. Located near the Turkish border, Manbij has been a strategic town on the supply route for the Islamic State group, based in the northeastern city of Raqqa.

The SDF campaign faced intense pushback from the militants, who resorted to the use of suicide attacks and car bombs. There are still nearly 130 ISIS militants in the town, said the SDF, in a central neighborhood referred to as the “security quarter.”

If the militants agreed to free civilians trapped with them in the area, SDF fighters said that they would let the ISIS fighters leave.

More than 78,000 people have been displaced from Manbij since the offensive began, according to the United Nations. At least 433 civilians have been killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Recommended Reads:

• Newsweek: Putin Seeks Approval for Air Force’s Indefinite Syria Stay
• The Daily Beast: Spies-for-Hire Now at War in Syria
• Sky News: Revealed: Russia’s ‘Secret Syria Mercenaries’
• The Guardian: Aleppo ‘Hell’ Prevents Syria Peace Talks, Say Diplomats
• The Washington Post: ISIS Destroyed Almost Half of an Ancient City in Syria