Turkey called Tuesday for a ground operation with its international allies to end the war in Syria, as the United Nations announced aid convoys are being sent to besieged towns.
Around 486,700 people in Syria currently live in areas besieged by either government or rebel forces, U.N. figures show.
Turkey sees Assad's ouster as essential to ending a five-year conflict that has killed more than 260,000 people, and is highly critical of Iran and Russia for supporting the Damascus regime.
Saudi Arabia, another fierce critic of Assad, has said it is ready to send special forces to Syria to take part in ground operations against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
The U.N. said Monday that nearly 50 civilians, including children, had died in the bombings of at least five medical facilities and two schools in northern Syria.
Russia's air strikes have allowed government forces to press a major operation that has virtually encircled rebels in eastern Aleppo city, as well as pushing them from much of the region to the north.
Moscow has called Turkey's shelling of Kurdish forces in Syria "provocative", and said it supported raising the issue at the U.N. Security Council.
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