The UK government has announced it will end funding for some aid programmes in rebel-held areas of Syria, which have become too risky ahead of an imminent government offensive.

The Department for International Development determined the programmes in Idlib, northwestern Syria, to be "unsustainable" as pro-regime forces begin to move in.

An attempt to create an independent police force would also be scrapped from September, while projects funding local councils were being reviewed and would likely be halted by the end of the financial year.

Instead, the focus in northern Syria is now on basic life-saving needs, providing medicines and medical equipment and water and sanitation support.