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Demands immediate safe passage for aid stuck at Syrian border

Under the terms of the deal, if the peace holds for seven days, Russian Federation and the United States will establish a Joint Implementation Center – which will be located in Geneva – for cooperation on military operations in Syria targeting terror groups.

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The council will hold closed consultations later on Friday.

With the U.S. -Russian brokered cease-fire for the war-torn country holding for its third straight day, calls intensified to have the government permit aid access to besieged opposition areas.

Special envoy Staffan de Mistura placed responsibility on the Syrian government which, he said, had not yet provided the “facilitation letters” that would allow aid convoys to pass through army checkpoints and reach besieged areas.

Kerry “emphasized that the United States expects Russian Federation to use its influence on the Assad regime to allow UN humanitarian convoys to reach Aleppo and other areas in need”, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

Aid deliveries are part of a US-Russia deal that imposed the ceasefire.

The ceasefire has been marred by a lack of humanitarian aid deliveries, sporadic violence, including 3 civilians killed Friday, and increasing friction between Moscow and Washington. “It does deal with sensitive issues that we believe, if made public, could potentially be misused to misinterpreted or used by – I know Secretary [John] Kerry talked about the spoilers or would-be spoilers of this”.

The ceasefire deal calls for a halt to the violence between the Syrian regime and rebel forces.

Turkey is complaining because Syrian Kurdish fighters in the border town of Tel Abyad in Syria are still flying US flags they had hoisted earlier.

In line with the latest Russia-US agreements, a week-long ceasefire regime on the whole territory of the Syrian Arab Republic came into force on Monday at 07.00 pm Moscow time (16:00 GMT).

The Russian defence ministry also said it was ready to extend the truce by an additional 72 hours despite infractions on the rebel side.

Outside Aleppo, Syrian forces that had been stationed along Castello road a main artery into rebel-held neighborhoods of the city were replaced by Russian troops, Rami Abdurrahman of the Observatory said.

“The Syrian army. began the staged withdrawal of vehicles and personnel from the Castello Road to ensure the unimpeded delivery of aid to eastern Aleppo”, said Lieutenant-General Vladimir Savchenko, head of the Russian Reconciliation Centre in Syria in remarks broadcast on state television.

Despite ongoing fighting, there had been no reported civilian deaths for two days after the announcement of the US-Russia brokered ceasefire on Monday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Under the truce deal, fighting is to stop across the country except where ISIL and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham are present.

“Humanitarian conditions are very hard”, Mr al Halaby said.

In the Syrian capital, Damascus, rare clashes erupted between government forces and an insurgent group, marking some of the most serious clashes in the area in weeks.

Syrian troops and anti-government rebels battled in the Damascus suburb of Jobar, an area already devastated by the five-year conflict.

The Observatory said three rebel fighters and four members of the government forces were killed.

He says 40 aid trucks are ready to move and his priority is getting aid into the embattled, rebel-held neighborhoods of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.

A convoy of United Nations trucks has been languishing for days on the Turkish border waiting for permission to head to Aleppo and deliver food.

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But on Friday, the trucks were still waiting at the border with Turkey, said David Swanson, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Syrians still awaiting aid despite ceasefire extension