Russia's actions in Syria have been compared to those of the Nazis in the 1930s.

Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell, leading an emergency Commons debate on the situation, compared Vladimir Putin's bombing campaign to Hitler's assault on Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Nato aircraft could enforce a no-fly zone to prevent alleged Russian war crimes.

The former international development minister said: "We are witnessing events which match the behaviour of the Nazi regime in Guernica in Spain.

"They are destroying the United Nations and its ability to act in the same way the Germans and the Italians destroyed the League of Nations in the 1930s."

Mitchell insisted the West had a responsibility to protect Syrians.

He said: "If that means confronting Russian air power defensively, on behalf of the innocent people on the ground who we are trying to protect, then we should do that.

"It's not a declaration of war against Russia but it is an absolute declaration that we will seek to protect the innocent victims of these war crimes.

"Aleppo was a city of more than two million people, it is now reduced to about 250,000 and the Russians are not bombing military formations they are bombing hospitals, which is absolutely a war crime, and they are bombing innocent people who are in cellars."

Amnesty International estimates Russia is responsible for 250 civilian deaths between September and November last year.

This includes attacks on Homs, Idleb and Aleppo.

Vladimir Putin has supported the Syrian government headed by Bashar al-Assad from the early stages of the conflict, originally providing arms and ammunition contracts estimated at $1.5bn (£1.22bn).

The Syrian conflict has lasted six years. Hospitals, aid convoys and civilians have routinely been caught up in air strikes from Russia, the West and Syrian government forces.

According to the International Rescue Committee, around half of Syria's pre-war population of 22.8 million has been displaced.

The UK is currently home to 2800 Syrian refugees and the Westminster government hopes to resettle a total of 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020. It has also promised £2.3bn in aid to those affected by the conflict.