Shaky Truce Holds in Syria, but Aid Still Desperately Needed

— -- A shaky truce appeared to be holding in Syria on Tuesday — nearly one day after a cease-fire brokered by Russia and the U.S. went into effect — but critical aid still waited to be taken to millions of people trapped in deadly conflict zones.

"The majority of Syrian provinces have witnessed silence" in the first night of the temporary truce that went into effect on Monday at sundown, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday.

Cities and towns that have been lit up by heavy gunfire and bombardments in recent weeks experienced their first night of widespread calm. Aleppo, Damascus, Reef Dimashq, Idlib, Daraa, Quneitra and Homs all saw a cessation of major fighting, the Observatory said.

But even as fighters on both sides observe a pause in hostilities, millions of civilians across the country face a dire humanitarian emergency, aid groups say.

More than 13 million people require humanitarian assistance of some kind across Syria.

Some 6 million people have been forced from their homes in the country — nearly 1 million of them in the past six months alone. During just eight days ending earlier this month, more than 100,000 people were forced to flee intense violence in the central city of Hama. Many of these people need shelter, food and medical care.

Of particular concern are the nearly 600,000 Syrians the United Nations estimates are living in besieged areas, cut off from regular access to basic necessities and living with the daily threat of deadly violence.

Up to 275,000 people in the eastern city of Aleppo have been almost entirely cut off from vital supplies, including food, water, medicine and electricity for over a month, the U.N. says.

"The nationwide cease-fire must allow lifesaving aid to finally reach the over 600,000 people trapped in besieged areas and provide the space to resume regular deliveries of humanitarian assistance to the over 13.5 million people in need of aid inside Syria, including 6 million children," the International Rescue Committee said in a statement.

In remarks in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry called the ability to deliver aid into Aleppo "literally the difference between life and death for tens of thousands of people."

He said the cease-fire appeared to be holding and aid groups were moving forward with their plans.

"Humanitarian assistance needs to begin to flow," Kerry said. "Now, that can take a day or two or so. It depends. But the U.N. has indicated that they are prepared and preparing to take those deliveries in. And it is important — and a very important part of this equation — that access to humanitarian goods takes place."

Under the agreement reached last week, the U.S. will move forward with military cooperation with Russia after certain conditions are met, including seven consecutive days of "humanitarian access," Kerry said.

According to the most recent estimates, 400,000 to 500,000 people have died so far in Syria's five-year-old civil war.