Electricity and water have been restored to parts of Syria’s northern city Aleppo following a three-week cut in which rebel forces halted water supplies in a bargaining move targeting the government, Reuters reported.

Activists from the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of sources on the ground, said al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate al-Nusra Front had halted water flow to government-controlled areas of the city in response to government-enforced electricity cuts in certain neighborhoods.

Aleppo’s water plant manager, a member of al-Nusra Front, sent a letter in recent days to government authorities urging restoration of electricity supply in return for reactivating the water facility, Observatory activists said.

The recent deal between Syrian government authorities and the Aleppo water plant’s al-Nusra manager is not the first of its kind – access points to basic utilities have in the past been used as bargaining chips as the various parties to the Syrian conflict vie for control.

Syria’s embattled Aleppo, home to UNESCO site Old Aleppo and a major economic hub before the current conflict, has been divided between government and rebel control since 2012.