The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is set to discuss the escalation of fighting in the divided northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo.

The emergency meeting, requested by the US, Britain and France, is scheduled to be held at 11:00 New York time on Sunday.

The request came after the foreign-backed militants operating in Aleppo suffered a series of losses on the battlefield against army forces.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that he was “appalled by the chilling military escalation” in Aleppo, warning that the use of advanced weaponry in the embattled city could amount to war crimes.

The world body says two million civilians have been left without water in Aleppo after bombardments damaged a pumping station and militants shut down another facility.

“Intense attacks last night have damaged the Bab al-Nayrab water pumping station, which supplies water to some 250,000 people in the eastern parts of Aleppo,” the UN children’s agency UNICEF said, adding, “Violence is preventing repair teams from reaching the station.”



[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="555"] People inspect a damaged site in Tariq al-Bab neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, September 23, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)[/caption]

Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, has been divided since 2012 between government forces in the west and foreign-backed terrorists in the east, making it a frontline battleground.

A week-long truce, brokered by Russia and the US, came to an end across Syria on September 19.

Damascus refused to extend the deal after its military base was hit by US-led airstrikes near the eastern city Dayr al-Zawr in violation of the agreement.

The air raids, which left more than 80 Syrian troops dead and some 100 others wounded, paved the way for the Takfiri militants to make some gains in the area.

Following the truce, Syria announced the start of a new military operation in Aleppo aimed at driving out the foreign-backed terrorists occupying the eastern flanks of the strategic city.

Efforts to revive the cessation of hostilities in the Middle Eastern country have failed so far.

Syrian army gains more ground

On Saturday, the Syrian army said its soldiers had managed to seize back control of Handarat, a Palestinian refugee camp located north of Aleppo, from militants.

Later, some media outlets affiliated with militant groups claimed that they had once again captured the Handarat camp.



[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="555"] Syrian government forces gather amidst destruction in the largely deserted Palestinian refugee camp of Handarat, north of Aleppo, on September 24, 2016 after they recaptured the facility. (Photo by AFP)[/caption]

However, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that attempts by the militants to take the center had so far failed.

SOHR Director Rami Abdulrahman told France 24 that the site was still held by the Syrian army troops despite clashes with the terrorists around the camp. Humanitarian aid is being dispatched to an Aleppo district, he stated.

In addition, Syria’s official SANA news agency reports that Syrian army soldiers have managed to disperse the militants from around the Handarat camp.

A unit of the Syrian army killed a number of Daesh terrorists close to an aviation college on the eastern outskirts of Aleppo and demolished two of their vehicles carrying machine guns, the report added.

Meanwhile, Colonel Fares al-Bayoush, head of the Northern Division of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) militant group, said Saturday that he expected the delivery of more “heavy weapons, such as rocket launchers and artillery” from their foreign sponsors.

Elsewhere in Idlib province, the Syrian Air Force destroyed vehicles and military equipment belonging to terrorist elements, according to the report.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy over the past five and a half years.

In recent months, the Takfiri militants have suffered major setbacks as the Syrian army has managed to liberate several areas.

By Press TV