(CNN) A truce negotiated between Syrian rebels and the government has caused a dramatic decrease in airstrikes around rebel-held territory, but there were few celebrations, with many residents suspecting a trick.
The United States and Russia helped lead the negotiation of a "cessation of hostilities" between a handful of rebel groups and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which began Friday. Terrorist groups like ISIS and al Nusra Front are not part of the agreement and ongoing attacks have been reported.
Attacks continue
Russian state-run media reported that six attacks on Damascus after the truce took effect originated from areas held by the Syrian opposition fighters.
Meantime an international group monitoring the conflict said warplanes had continued their strikes.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said strikes had targeted the southern countryside of Hama, an area near Raqqa -- the de facto capital of ISIS -- and the Aleppo region.
It said 183 people -- including 89 ISIS fighters -- had been killed on Saturday alone.
Over the past week, CNN's senior international correspondent Clarissa Ward traveled to rebel-held territory around Aleppo where she was able to witness the ceasefire's impact.
She is virtually the only Western journalist to have traveled to the heavy hit area in over a year.
The area around Aleppo has seen some of the most intensive bombardment in the past few months as Russian airstrikes gave support to pro-Assad forces on the ground.
Dramatic increase in bombardments ahead of truce
Ward says the number of airstrikes has slowed dramatically since the cessation of hostilities began but residents are far from rejoicing.
When her team visited the town of Daraat Izza, on the outskirts of Aleppo, locals said there had been an airstrike on a house about 30 hours after the ceasefire came into effect.
Ward says people living in the area aren't celebrating the ceasefire for a number of other reasons.
"Firstly, in the run up to this cessation of hostilities there was a dramatic increase in the intensiveness of the bombardment, of Russian aerial bombardment and also of the regime warplanes of Bashar al-Assad," she says.
"Secondly, the people living in rebel territory don't trust the Assad regime and see this cessation of hostilities as a trick designed so that the regime can take more territory. And for that reason, many people we've spoken to are in fact actually against the ceasefire."
Ceasefire 'a betrayal'
A few days ago, the CNN team attended a protest where people were carrying signs reading, "the ceasefire is a betrayal of our martyrs."
The demonstrators were chanting over and over again "we must keep on fighting" and "we must unite," Ward said.
Even the local imam, or Muslic cleric, used his weekly sermon to urge his followers not to participate in the ceasefire and to keep fighting.
"I think what this really highlights the fundamental disconnect that exists between the people who are fighting and dying here on the ground and the people who are brokering deals overseas," Ward says.
Russian airstrikes
The residents of rebel-held territory around Aleppo are not the only ones expressing skepticism over the ceasefire.
A main Syrian opposition group, the High Negotiations Committee, said 97 of its factions agreed to respect the two-week truce that starts with the cessation of hostilities. But it warned the Syrian government and Russia not to target it under the pretense of attacking terrorist groups.
Salem Meslet, the spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee, told CNN's Nic Robertson that the Syrian regime had committed 15 violations of the cessation of hostilities agreement.
He blamed the airstrikes in Aleppo on Russian warplanes. The areas that were targeted do not have ISIS or al Nusra presence, he said.
"We worry (Syrian President Bashar al-Assad) will increase the violations if no one says anything to him," Meslet said.
The High Negotiations Committee is sending letters detailing the alleged violations to the United Nations and all the members of the International Syria Support Group -- except for Russia and Iran.
'Repeated violations'
The committee's letter to the United Nations Security Council urges it to intervene immediately after "repeated violations by the regimes and its allies."
"We have agreed to the temporary truce as a response to sincere international efforts aiming to ease the suffering of the Syrian people and to assist in the implementation of the humanitarian provisions of UNSCR 2254, in particular: articles 12, 13 and 14.
"Failure to achieve any significant progress in this regard will leave us no option but to examine alternative measures to ensure the protection of the Syrian people and bring an end to the crimes committed against them," the letter warns.
Russian state media said that country halted airstrikes in certain parts of Syria in accordance with the cessation of hostilities agreement.
In a statement, Russia's foreign ministry said that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov had welcomed the cessation of hostilities during a phone call Sunday.
Kerry and Lavrov discussed the full implementation of the agreement and reiterated the importance of close cooperation between Russia and the United States as co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group, the ministry said.
Starving to death
Meantime the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights spoke out Monday against sieges of towns and cities in Syria.
"The deliberate starvation of people is unequivocally forbidden as a weapon of warfare. By extension, so are sieges, which deprive civilians of essential goods such as food. And yet over 450,000 people are currently trapped in besieged towns and villages in Syria -- and have been, in some cases, for years," Zeid Ra'Ad Al Hussein said in a statement.
"Food, medicine and other desperately-needed humanitarian aid is repeatedly obstructed. Thousands of people may have starved to death," he said.
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