The Latest: UN says lack of safety holds up Syria aid

BEIRUT – The Latest on developments in Syria, where a cease-fire brokered by the U.S. and Russia has come into effect (all times local):

9:00 p.m.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says humanitarian aid to Syrians is being held up by a lack of security arrangements despite a Russia-U.S. brokered cease-fire deal.

Ban said Wednesday he has been in touch with the Russian government, urging them to exercise influence on the Syrian government to let the trucks in. He says he has also been in touch with the Americans to get Syrian armed groups to co-operate.

Ban says, “twenty truckloads (of humanitarian aid) are ready and they were supposed to deliver them today but unfortunately because all these arrangements for making sure the security and safety of the humanitarian workers, including drivers, have not been made yet so they are at the border.”

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6:00 p.m.

The Russian military says rebels have violated a cease-fire in Syria brokered by Washington and Moscow 60 times since it came into force sunset Monday.

Lt. Gen. Viktor Poznikhir of the Russian military’s General Staff says that the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham insurgent group and other opposition forces were behind most violations of the truce. He adds that Syrian government forces haven’t returned fire.

Poznikhir said Wednesday that Moscow backs the extension of the truce for another 48 hours.

He insists that Russia has fully met its obligations under the truce, but voiced doubt that the U.S. would be able to fulfil its pledge to persuade the opposition to sever links with al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, which has changed its name from Jabhat al-Nusra to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.

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5:00 p.m.

A pair of trucks from Turkey has delivered food and children’s toys to the northern Syrian town of Jarablus.

The aid arrived Wednesday, the third day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday. It includes around 25 tons of flour, rice and pasta.

The aid shipment, organized by the youth wing of Turkey’s ruling AKP party, became possible after Turkey-backed Syrian rebels ousted Islamic State group fighters from the town last month.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency says the Turkish Red Crescent on Tuesday distributed meat from animals sacrificed for Eid al-Adha to 4,500 households in Jarablus.

A U.S.-Russia brokered cease-fire in Syria came into effect Monday.

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1:20 p.m.

Russia is urging Syrian rebels to separate themselves from ‘terrorists’ to ensure that the Russia-U.S.-brokered cease-fire continues to hold in Syria, where a relative calm has prevailed since the truce went into effect two days ago.

A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin says the Kremlin is hopeful that the truce deal “will create the necessary environment for political settlement.”

Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that the Kremlin welcomes the cease-fire but that the key thing now is to make sure moderate opposition groups are separated from the “terrorists” — a reference to militant groups such as Syria’s al-Qaida affiliate.

Peskov said that’s the “key task, without which further progress can hardly be possible.”

Russia launched its operation in Syria last year to support ally President Bashar Assad’s forces.