The Latest on Syria

BEIRUT (AP) -- The Latest on developments in Syria, where a cease-fire brokered by the U.S. and Russia has been holding since coming into effect earlier this week (all times local):

3:20 p.m.

Turkey is complaining because Syrian Kurdish fighters in the border town of Tel Abyad in Syria are still flying U.S. flags they had hoisted earlier.

The state-run Anadolu news agency says three U.S. flags were hung on Thursday around a compound of the Democratic Union Party, or PYD, and were still visible from Turkey on Friday afternoon.

The Syrian Kurdish fighters are an ally to the United States in the battle against the Islamic State group.

But Turkey views them as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey and is viewed as a terrorist group by Turkey and the U.S.

U.S. Department of Defense chief spokesman Peter Cook earlier said that Washington has asked the Syrian Kurdish partner forces not to fly the American flag on their own but was unaware of this particular instance.

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2:10 p.m.

One of the most powerful opposition groups in the northern province of Aleppo has denied that government forces withdrew from a main road leading into rebel-held parts of Syria's largest city.

Nour el-Din el-Zinki group says in statement Friday that their observation posts in the area are confirming that government forces are still on the Castello road.

It accuses the government of not giving permission for the U.N. to deliver trucks of aid to besieged eastern neighborhoods in Aleppo

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2:05 p.m.

A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia is using its influence on the Syrian government to make sure the ongoing cease-fire holds and wants the United States to do the same with regards to opposition groups.

Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that Russia "is still using its influence" to make sure the agreement, hammered out between Russia and the U.S., stands. He says that Moscow hopes that "our American counterparts will do the same."

Russia is a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Peskov says Russia believes that "progress is happening although with certain hiccups."

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2 p.m.

United Nations officials say they are awaiting word from Russia and Syrian combatants on both sides that security and monitoring are in place to allow for deliveries of humanitarian aid into rebel-held parts of the city of Aleppo.

OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke says "it is my understanding" that U.N. officials are waiting for assurances that conditions are safe enough for two convoys of 20 trucks each to proceed from Turkey to eastern Aleppo.

Speaking to reporters Friday in Geneva, Laerke said the trucks are in a "special customs zone" on the Turkish border.

He clarifies that the U.N. does not require authorization from Syria's government for cross-border aid deliveries.

Jan Egeland, a top U.N. coordinator of aid for Syria, says in a text message that the U.N. is waiting for assurances on "monitoring arrangements."

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12:15 p.m.

Opposition activists and state media are reporting clashes between troops and insurgents as well as shelling in two neighborhoods of the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Syrian state news agency SANA says insurgents shelled government-held areas in the eastern neighborhood of Qaboun, wounding three people.

SANA says the shelling violates the cease-fire brokered by the U.S. and Russia that went into effect Monday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Friday's fighting is concentrated in the neighborhood of Jobar, next to Qaboun.

Mazen al-Shami, an opposition activist near Damascus, says government forces tried to storm Jobar but were repelled by opposition fighters.

He says al-Qaida and Islamic State group fighters, who are excluded from the cease-fire, are not present in the area.

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11:30 a.m.

Russia's deputy foreign minister says the future of President Bashar Assad is an internal Syrian issue and the U.S.-Russia Syria agreement does not deal with it.

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

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said in an interview with the RIA Novosti news agency on Friday that Assad's future is "purely Syrian business" and that the cease-fire deal that the United States and Russia signed last week did not discuss Assad's future in any way

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11 a.m.

A Syrian activist says Russian troops have deployed along a main road leading into besieged rebel-held neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo ahead of the possible arrival of aid convoys.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the Syrian government forces that were stationed there have been replaced by Russian troops. He says aid is expected to enter rebel-held Aleppo later Friday.

Aleppo-based activist Bahaa al-Halaby denies that government troops withdrew from Castello road.

Aid deliveries are part of a U.S.-Russia deal that imposed a cease-fire, which started Monday.

Russia's military announced Thursday evening that Syrian government forces had begun withdrawing from Castello road but did not confirm if Russian troops would be stationed there. The Pentagon said it had no indication of a withdrawal.

(KA)