Syria ceasefire enters third day

US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov have agreed to extend a ceasefire agreement in Syria by 48 hours to allow for increased humanitarian access.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said: "There was agreement that as a whole, despite sporadic reports of violence, the arrangement is holding, and violence is significantly lower.

"As part of the conversation they agreed to extend the cessation for another 48 hours."

Around 40 lorries carrying aid for the Aleppo are stuck in no-man's land in Syria, waiting for permission to travel onward as disagreements between warring sides delay their efforts on the third day of the ceasefire.

The two convoys are carrying mainly food and are currently 25 miles from Aleppo.

David Swanson, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) added that another 20 trucks were waiting at the border between Syria and Turkey, "ready to go".

He added that disagreements between the warring sides were blocking aid getting into opposition-held eastern Aleppo.

The Syrian government has said it will reject any aid deliveries to Aleppo which are not coordinated through itself and the UN, particularly from Turkey, which has backed the rebels fighting President Bashar Assad.

Aleppo was the biggest city in Syria before the civil war broke out in 2011. It is now divided with its rebel-held area besieged by government forces.

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A week-long truce in Syria brokered by the US and Russia, which began on Monday evening, appears to be holding in most places although some shellfire has still taken place.

It's hoped that the ceasefire will enable much-needed aid to get through to parts of the country that have been under siege for months.

The end to the violence, even if it is temporary, is also cause for celebration for people who have been living with the terrible effects of war for so long.

Aid agency, Save the Children, has said it is currently unable to get into the besieged city of Aleppo in Syria despite a ceasefire agreed by the US and Russia.

Misty Buswell, Middle East Advocacy Director at the charity, told ITV News via Skype that conditions have not been met to get aid trucks through battle lines.

She said: "The access routes into Aleppo are still insecure, there are still fighters along those roads and no agreement has been reached to allow aid to get in, as of today".

The first aid convoys have begun to enter Syria from Turkey as the US-Russia brokered ceasefire continues to largely hold for a second day.

One convoy with around 20 trucks carrying aid crossed into northern Syria from the Turkish border town of Cilvegozu, according to a Reuters witness.

Turkey had said it aimed, with the United Nations, to send trucks of food, children's clothes and toys to the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.

Meanwhile the Turkish military told Reuters that coalition air strikes killed three Islamic State fighters in Syria on Tuesday.

The strikes targeted four mortar positions and one defensive position around Syrian towns near Aleppo.

More than 300,000 deaths have been recorded in the Syrian conflict, the leading war monitoring group announced - as a week-long halt in violence sustained for a second day.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates the total number of civilians and fighters killed, including undocumented deaths, to be around 430,000 since the start of the conflict in 2011.

The figures were issued as an aid convoy was delivered to Aleppo amid a halting of fighting between the Assad government and rebels.

Around 20 trucks carrying food, children's clothes and toys were driven from the Turkish border town of Cilvegozu into northern Syria as the seven-day ceasefire brokered by the the US and Russia held.

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said major conflict zones in Syria were calm after a week-long ceasefire took effect on Monday.

However it did report that there has been some shelling by both rebel and government forces in the southwest of the country.

Meanwhile the Russian Foreign Ministry said it was concerned that some armed opposition groups, including the powerful insurgent group Ahrar al-Sham, are refusing to abide by the ceasefire.

The ministry also said in a statement that it was counting on the US to influence Syria's "moderate opposition" to ensure full compliance with the cessation of hostilities.

It also said humanitarian aid to Aleppo would begin immediately through the northern road of Castello.

A southern road through the region of Ramusa will open "over time."

A nationwide ceasefire in Syria, brokered by the United States and Russia, has come into effect.

It is the second attempt this year by Washington and Moscow to bring an end to the five-year-long civil war.

Shortly before the week-long truce started, violence was reported in several areas throughout the country.

Under the terms of the deal, if it lasts for a week, Russia and America will co-ordinate attacks against some rebel groups including Islamic State and al-Qaeda's former Syria branch known as the Nusra Front.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has welcomed the Syrian ceasefire agreement and said the UK is ready to help make it work.

The former mayor of London made a telephone call to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in which the pair also agreed to meet on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly meeting in New York.