UN sends 20 aid trucks to Syria from Turkey

HATAY, Turkey

The UN has sent 20 humanitarian aid trucks to Syria from Turkey after the U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire came into effect across the country, according to security sources.

Security sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said 20 aid trucks belonging to the UN, crossed into the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo from the Turkish border town of Cilvegozu in the southern province of Hatay.

The sources said that the trucks left around noon (0900GMT) Tuesday from the Cilvegozu border gate. At least 40 trucks are expected to cross the border by the end of the day, they said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan commented Monday on the Syria cease-fire deal reached over the weekend.

"If it works out, the truce will be extended one more week and then will be continuous," he said, adding that food, clothes and toys provided by both the UN and the Turkish Red Crescent would be delivered mainly to Aleppo citizens on Monday evening.

The U.S. and Russia agreed to take steps to reduce violence in war-torn Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry announced on early Saturday.

The cease-fire deal reached aims to introduce humanitarian aid to besieged areas.

Syria has suffered unspeakable losses over the last five years since Bashar al-Assad's government violently suppressed a peaceful protest against his rule, unleashing a downward spiral of violence that killed hundreds of thousands of victims and displaced millions.