Updated

The United Nations secretary-general says the U.N. is poised to help get long-awaited humanitarian aid across borders into Syria even at crossings outside government control, in defiance of Damascus' insistence that all aid go through its authorities.

Ban Ki-Moon's new report says access to humanitarian aid for millions of people trapped in the three-year conflict remains "unpredictable and woefully inadequate" and that the Assad regime has "failed" to care for its people.

The U.N. Security Council has been pressured to back up a resolution passed earlier this year demanding access for delivering humanitarian aid.

Ban's update on the resolution says, "We are ready to put in place arrangements at key border and line crossings to facilitate, improve and monitor access" including at crossings "currently outside the government's effective control."