Currently some 50,000 people are gathered at the border with Turkey seeking refuge from the conflict as Ankara faces increasing EU pressure to allow them to enter.

It comes as startling new figures reveal the number of migrants to enter Europe by sea so far this year is ten times more than the same period last year - prompting NATO to consider launching a humanitarian naval mission in the Mediterranean.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu today urged the world to speak out against Russia for 'mercilessly bombing civilian targets' in Syria.

Predicting Russia would eventually retreat from Syria in a similar manner to the Soviet forces who once pulled out of Afghanistan - he warned the country would one day 'pay'.

He said those 'who turned Syria into a bloodbath will certainly pay for it', reiterating claims that Russia's support of Bashar al-Assad had triggered the exodus to the Turkish border.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said as many as 50,000 people had reached the border, trying to escape intense Russian bombings around Aleppo. He estimated Tuesday that up to a million more could flee if the onslaught continues.

The International Organisation for Migration today revealed 76,000 migrants and refugees arrived in Europe by sea through the first six weeks of 2016.

This marked a drastic increase from the first six weeks of 2015, when just 11,000 undertook the voyage.

The vast majority of these have arrived in Greece as opposed to Italy, which are respectively known as the eastern and western Mediterranean routes. 

It has prompted calls for NATO to launch a humanitarian naval mission in the area, which head secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said would be considered 'very seriously'.

Stoltenberg said he had spoken by telephone with the German and Turkish defense ministers, and that the issue will be on the agenda at a NATO defense ministers' meeting Wednesday.

He added that 'we are all concerned' and NATO's 28 member countries 'see the need to manage and to tackle the human tragedy,' and the problems associated with it.

Yesterday German chancellor Angela Merkel said she was 'not just appalled but horrified' by the suffering caused by Russian bombing in Syria. 

She said she and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu agreed tomorrow's NATO meeting should discuss how the alliance 'can be helpful with the surveillance situation' in the Mediterranean and assist the Turkish coast guard and the European Union's border agency.

Meanwhile, camps for the displaced along Syria's border with Turkey are at full capacity, aid workers say, as tens of thousands flee a major government offensive in Aleppo province.

In and around the border town of Azaz, families are sleeping in the streets, or up to 20 people to a tent, having left their homes with nothing but the clothes they were wearing.

(www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3438558/Turkey-warns-expects-600-000-Syrians-arrive-borders-warns-goal-host-refugees-OUTSIDE-Turkey.html?ito=social-facebook)