The Latest: UN says Aleppo rebels approved aid, evacuations

In this photo taken on Monday, Nov. 21, 2016, Syrian refugees from Aleppo Gada Mashhadi, left, Mustafa Rajab, center, and Naser Tabah attend a meeting of Syrian refugees in Losino-Petrovsky, about 52 kilometers (32 miles) northeast of Moscow, Russia. The non-profit Civic Assistance Committee, with backing from the UN, has opened a Russian language school for Syrian refugees in Moscow region, to help them adapt to life in the country. Gada Mashhadi arrived in Russia one year ago from Syria. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin) (The Associated Press)

BEIRUT – The Latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

A senior U.N. aid official says his team has received written approval from Syrian rebels in the besieged opposition-held parts of the city of Aleppo to allow aid in and evacuate the wounded.

Jan Egeland told reporters in Geneva on Thursday that the U.N. also has "verbal support" from Russia, a main backer of President Bashar Assad, for the four-point plan reached earlier this month on Aleppo.

Egeland says the team is still waiting for approval from the Syrian government, adding that trucks carrying aid could start entering east Aleppo within hours if such approval is received.

East Aleppo is home to some 275,000 people and has been besieged since July, with no food or medical supplies having entered the areas since then.

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11:30 a.m.

The Turkish Armed Forces says three Turkish soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded in Syria by an airstrike allegedly fired by government forces.

A statement from the Armed Forces on its website says the attack took place before dawn on Thursday. The statement did not provide the location for the 3 a.m. strike.

One of the wounded soldiers was said to be in critical condition.

The casualties are likely to ratchet up tensions between Ankara and Damascus. In August, Ankara sent ground troops into northern Syria to support Syrian opposition forces in the fight against Islamic State militants and to curb Syrian Kurdish territorial gains.

The Turkish troops are not fighting Syrian government forces.

Ankara views Syrian Kurdish troops as an extension of the Kurdish insurgency in southeastern Turkey.