Russian air strikes cut off water supply in Syria's Idlib

Russian fighter jets hit a key water pumping station in Syria's northwestern Idlib province, depriving thousands of people of water, according to reports.

The jets carried out around ten airstrikes in the opposition region and targeted areas including the key Sejer water station that feeds Idlib city and its surrounding villages/

The bombing left "the station out of action as pipes have been damaged", the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Sunday said in a statement.

Over 3 million people live in Idlib province and surrounding parts of northwestern Syria - more than half of whom have been displaced from other parts of the country.

Idlib and parts of Aleppo province remain the only areas in Syria to be held by the opposition. 

Russia - a staunch supporter of the Assad regime - also reportedly targeted Al-Sheikh Yusuf village and a central prison near Idlib city.

Russian airstrikes on tents housing internally displaced Syrians also killed a woman and two children in the countryside of West Idlib's Jisr Al-Shighour City, SOHR said on Saturday.

There are roughly 1,489 campsites in northern Syria inhabited by roughly 1.5 million internally displaced persons (IDP's) living in harsh and unsafe conditions after being expelled from their homes throughout the Syrian conflict.

Floods and fires, triggered by causes relating to the testing winter, have deprived IDPs across Syria's north of their homes and only place of refuge.

The Syrian conflict began in 2011 after the Assad regime brutally cracked-down on peaceful pro-democracy protests.

Over 500,000 lives have been lost since then, more than five million Syrians have been forced to flee to neighbouring countries and an additional six million Syrian civilians have become internally displaced.