Besieged Syrian civilians waited for aid on Wednesday (September 14th) as relief convoys remained on hold despite a significant drop in violence under a new ceasefire, AFP reported.

The UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura on Tuesday hailed the truce, which began at sundown Monday, for bringing about "a significant drop in violence" despite isolated incidents.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had recorded no casualties in the country since the truce took effect, despite minor violations by both sides.

But there appeared to be little progress on another key element of the agreement: unhindered aid access throughout the country, particularly to areas like opposition-held east Aleppo.

UN aid trucks are waiting north of Aleppo in Turkey, but a Syrian security source said Wednesday that the regime had yet to withdraw its forces from the key Castello Road running to the Turkish border. The demilitarisation of the road is a key component of the deal.

David Swanson, spokesman for the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Turkey's Gaziantep, said the agency had 20 trucks loaded with a month's worth of food rations for 40,000 people waiting on the border.

"This is a very complex environment and we need security guarantees," he said.