At the start of the first full day of the Syria ceasefire, there's a glimmer of hope that a temporary ceasefire will bring much needed calm to parts of the war-ravaged country.
A ceasefire negotiated by the US and Russia is just hours old, and many believe its efficacy will only become clearer in the coming hours.
The ceasefire's start coincides with the beginning of Eid al-Adha -- a holiday that commemorates when Ibrahim (Abraham in the Old Testament) prepares to sacrifice his son as God commanded, but God intervenes and stops him at the last moment.
The Feast of the Sacrifice celebrates the value of human life. It begins after a weekend during which 90 people -- including 28 children -- were killed in airstrikes.
Residents of Aleppo say after the Monday ceasefire began, the bombing and whoosh of warplanes wasn't as intense as it has been in years past.
But one monitoring group reports that there were five violations in and around Aleppo in the ceasefire's first two hours --
These types of violations are not uncommon, and it's not necessarily a measure of success in a ceasefire -- the world usually hopes that these brief respites in violence can help those in areas like Aleppo get the humanitarian aid they so desperately need.
The terms of the deal
The deal calls for a halt to the violence between the Syrian regime and rebel forces. It would also allow for much-needed humanitarian access to besieged cities such as Aleppo.
US Secretary of State John Kerry Monday said while the start of the ceasefire looked good, "it is far too early to draw any definitive conclusions."
Just hours before the ceasefire started, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gave a defiant message to the country's opposition forces.
"We have come here to give the message that the Syrian nation is determined to retake every piece of land from the terrorists, and to re-establish safety and security, to reconstruct and rebuild infrastructure and rebuild everything that has been destroyed," he said in footage broadcast by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.
Assad's family has ruled Syria for 45 years. He has often referred to opposition members seeking his ouster as terrorists.
Kerry: 'This is less than perfect'
After previous ceasefire attempts failed, Kerry addressed criticism that the latest deal is flawed.
"Sure, this is less than perfect," he said. "But flawed compared to what? Compared to nothing?"
"This catastrophe developed step by step, folks, and it can only be reversed step by step," he said. "This is the best thing we could think of."
The ceasefire gives an opportunity to provide humanitarian relief for hundreds of thousands of Syrians.
"We are ready to get assistance into Aleppo right away," said Dominic Graham, Syria response director for international aid agency Mercy Corps. "We must be certain the ceasefire is holding with all parties before sending people and trucks into harm's way."
The United States and Russia previously coordinated a partial ceasefire in February. But human rights groups monitoring the situation reported several airstrikes in the Aleppo region and near Raqqa, ISIS' de facto capital, just days after the truce took effect.
Cities in ruins
The Syrian president made his defiant remarks Monday during a symbolic visit to the former rebel stronghold of Daraya, a now-devastated Damascus suburb.
President Bashar al-Assad walked through Daraya shortly before the ceasefire.
Daraya was under siege by the regime for years until a recent evacuation deal that allowed thousands of civilians and hundreds of rebel militants to leave the city, marking a major victory for Assad.
In June, activists said the Syrian regime pounded the area with barrel bombs just hours after food was delivered to the besieged suburb for the first time in nearly four years.
Fear also permeates Aleppo, Syria's once-bustling cultural and economic center that has been largely reduced to rubble.
An activist from the Aleppo Media Center told CNN that he read Assad's presence in a formerly opposition-held area as a sign to "that this could be our fate someday."
Upticks in violence also have occurred before previous ceasefire attempts.
"We are not optimistic about this ceasefire," an activist for the Aleppo Media Center told CNN as explosions rang out in the background.
The Syrian civil war has killed more than 300,000 people and forced more than 5 million to flee the country, spawning an international refugee crisis.
