First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said the world cannot "stand back" in the face of "slaughter and destruction" in Aleppo.
She said she supported more evacuation of the wounded, further discussion of humanitarian airdrops and a determination to prosecute any war crimes committed.
Speaking at First Minister's Questions at Holyrood, she said: "I think each and every one of us finds the scenes we are witnessing on our television screens nightly at the moment from Aleppo to be heartbreaking and deeply, deeply distressing.
Read more: Iain Macwhirter - People of Aleppo are the losers in this contest of deplorables
"It's very difficult in these circumstances for any of us to say exactly what can and should be done to resolve the situation, but we do know that the world cannot, on this occasion, as it has done so often in the past, continue to stand back while the scenes of slaughter and destruction happen before our very eyes."
Scottish Labour MSP Anas Sarwar raised the issue in a moving speech, saying "humanity is dying before our eyes and the world looks on helpless".
He said: "Looking at the scenes from Aleppo, I feel angry, broken, helpless and lost.
"Angry that this can happen in our world, broken because I can only imagine if that was my children staying awake at night because of the sound of gunfire and explosions, or if it were my boys whose only hope in life was to stay alive.
Read more: Iain Macwhirter - People of Aleppo are the losers in this contest of deplorables
"Helpless because I don't know what I or anybody else in this chamber can do to actually make a meaningful difference and lost because every option I think of can only mean more bloodshed and violence. We need to do something but I honestly don't know what the something is.
"I know warm words won't save a single life in Aleppo but I hope all of us in this chamber can encourage people across Scotland to take part in the humanitarian response in Syria, and also send a strong message of solidarity, humanity and peace to every man, woman and child struggling in Aleppo."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article