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Syria aid trucks cross Turkish border, enter buffer zone

The Observatory also reported that strikes in Islamic State-held territory in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour had killed at least seven people, including a man and his daughters, and wounded 30 others.

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Earlier, a monitoring group said that the truce, which went into effect on Monday night, was “positive”.

But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said Thursday that government forces and rebel fighters were still on the road and the army was not willing to pull back before opposition forces did so.

Rebel groups said they would not withdraw from around Castello Road until government forces did.

Elsewhere in northern Syria, several dozen U.S. Special Forces members have begun to advise, assist and accompany Turkish rebel groups fighting ISIS, according to a U.S. official.

They recognised that “despite sporadic reports of violence, as a whole the arrangement is holding and violence is, I’d say, significantly lower in comparison to previous days and weeks”, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.

So far, the Observatory has reported minor violations by both sides, and no casualties.

A key focus is eastern Aleppo, where around 250,000 civilians are besieged by government forces and waiting for aid stuck on the Turkish border over security concerns.

“The reason we’re not in eastern Aleppo has again been a combination of very hard and detailed discussions around security monitoring and passage of roadblocks – which is both opposition and government”, Egeland told Reuters.

“It is up to whether or not Vladimir Putin decides that it’s time to do what the Russians can do to bring this conflict into a period where there can be the beginning of political discussions, a hoped-for protective zone for people who are under relentless assault from the air, and a commitment to going after the terrorist groups that pose a threat to everyone”.

In addition, as part of the agreement, regime checkpoints on the Castello Road [in Aleppo] should be withdrawn, and opposition forces inside the city’s east should not seek to block the delivery.

The Syrian army on Thursday began a staged withdrawal of troops and vehicles from the Castello Road in Aleppo, the head of Russian military in Syria has said.

The US “have been promising to do the maximum possible to separate the moderate opposition from the Nusra Front since February”, when a previous cessation of hostilities deal was agreed, said Mr Bogdanov.

The United Nations was also ready to send aid by the end of the week to besieged areas close to Damascus and Homs, including Moademiya, al-Waer, Talbish, and Douma, according to Jan Egeland, the UN special adviser on humanitarian affairs.

As part of the deal, the strategic Castello Road leading into rebel-held eastern Aleppo was meant to be demilitarised for aid to enter.

Russian Federation military spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the United States was using “rhetorical fog” intended “to hide the fact that it is not fulfilling its part of the obligations” in a statement.

Assad has been accused of war crimes in the civil war and his opponents inside and outside the country have insisted that his departure is a prerequisite for a peace settlement.

He said the government had agreed on September 6 — before the cease-fire deal was inked — to allow aid into five areas, but the authorizations still haven’t come.

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At least 20 trucks carrying enough supplies for 40,000 people are now being held at the Turkish-Syrian border, unable to travel further without permission from the Damascus government. Nearby at the Syria-Turkey line, about 40 truckloads of aid from Ankara is still waiting to cross the border.

Soldiers fall under fire during live video conference