The Turkish official said no further trucks were expected to cross the border on Wednesday until the situation became clearer.
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If the truce holds for seven days, the United States and Russian Federation will set up a joint center to coordinate their air forces in attacks against Islamic State and the Front for the Conquest of Syria.
The convoys each comprise around 20 trucks containing mostly food and flour, and drivers were hoping to reach their destination quickly as the ceasefire between the Syrian government and rebels entered its third day.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor of the war, said it had recorded no deaths in the country since the truce took effect.
The aid is badly needed.
The five-year war has killed an estimated 430,000 people since the start of the conflict, with roughly 11 million people made homeless in the world’s worst refugee crisis.
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, or JIC, for cooperation on military operations in Syria targeting terror groups. “So they could go on a minute’s notice”, he said, voicing hope the aid could be delivered to eastern Aleppo on Friday.
Earlier this year, yet another ceasefire fell apart in Syria, so there’s a lot more diplomatic dance and caution involved this time.
The Syrian army has meanwhile accused rebels of numerous violations since the ceasefire took effect.
Moscow says the United States has failed to clearly distinguish Al-Nusra Front-allied groups from those which are meant to be protected by the ceasefire, despite Russia’s numerous requests to provide such intelligence.
Aleppo, Syria’s second city, is in desperate need of humanitarian aid after weeks of heavy fighting. It states that the Syrian government should be notified – and not given the task of approving – aid trucks being delivered to rebel-held areas.
The opposition has yet to officially sign on, and hours before the ceasefire began Assad said he was committed to recovering all of Syria.
United Nations officials said they are still awaiting “a green light” to move.
Disagreements between the warring sides were blocking aid getting into opposition-held eastern Aleppo, Swanson added.
“Some groups are looking to gain political mileage out of this, and this is something we need to put aside”, he added.
“I have been urging the Russian government to make sure that they exercise influence on the Syrian government, and also the American side to make sure that Syrian armed groups, they also fully co-operate”, Ban said.
Syria’s government on Tuesday warned that all aid going to the divided city of Aleppo, particularly assistance sent by Turkey, must be coordinated with Damascus and the United Nations.
The U.N. says it must get permission for most of its aid deliveries from Damascus. Of these 5.47 million people are in hard-to-reach areas, including close to 600,000 people in 18 besieged areas. Medical facilities in rebel-held areas have been frequent targets for government bombings.
The convoy of aid was supposed to head towards Aleppo on Wednesday, but Ban said the security arrangements were still not in place, despite a truce agreed by the United States and Russian Federation that went into effect two days ago.
The ceasefire has drastically reduced fighting across the country between Syrian government forces and insurgents. The UN said the truce managed to significantly reduce violence in Syria, but skepticism remains, as a similar attempt in February eventually collapsed.
The UN’s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura on Tuesday hailed the truce for bringing about “a significant drop in violence” despite isolated incidents.
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“For a cease-fire to work, you need a monitoring group on the ground – and there isn’t one”, Robert S. Ford, a former US ambassador to Syria, told me.
