“We are waiting for this cessation of hostilities to actually deliver the assurances and the peace before trucks can start moving from Turkey”, said United Nations spokesman Jens Laerke.
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Erdoğan said the initial 48-hour ceasefire could be extended by a week.
What began as a local uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad slowly burgeoned into an global war involving the United States, Russia, Iran and nearly all of Syria’s neighbors.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based watchdog also said pro-government forces shelled two villages in southern Aleppo province and an area on the outskirts of Damascus, but no deaths or injuries were reported.
The United Nations said they did not own the aid trucks, and that it was still awaiting confirmation that the ceasefire was holding before sending in its own convoy.
He noted that isolated reports of conflict persisted, especially last night, but that by sunrise today the broad picture was positive.
Since Syria plunged into civil war five years ago, dramatic images of children living in rebel-held areas and besieged cities have captured the horror of the country’s crisis.
East Aleppo would initially be supplied with food in trucks coming across the Turkish border if security is guaranteed, OCHA said.
At least 40 trucks are expected to cross the border by the end of the day, Anadolu said.
“UN trucks are waiting at the border of the Turkish side and they have not crossed yet”.
While stressing that only 24 hours of relative calm had yet passed, he said: “Sources on the ground, which do matter, including inside Aleppo city, said the situation has dramatically improved with no airstrikes”.
As for humanitarian efforts – the Syrian ministry of foreign affairs issued a statement saying it will not allow aid, particularly from the Turkish government, to be delivered to besieged Aleppo without prior co-ordination with it and the UN.
Since the deal was reached on Friday, “there has been a lot of mobilisation, frantic activity to be able to rush in aid.as soon as it is safe to do so, however, up to this moment, no, the convoys have not been rolling”, Laerke said. The ceasefire between the United States and Russian Federation was announced on Friday but details have not been revealed. Nusra, which claims to have shed its links to al-Qaeda despite maintaining its veteran leadership, often fights alongside more “moderate” rebel groups.
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The Syrian government says it will not allow aid, particularly “from the Turkish regime”, to be delivered to Aleppo without prior co-ordination with it and the UN.
