U.N. rights experts demanded Friday that Saudi Arabia immediately overturn laws allowing for the execution of children, and for punishments of minors including stonings, amputations and flogging.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that Moscow is ready to support a U.N. plan for jihadist fighters to leave war-ravaged Aleppo, but slapped strict conditions on any rebels remaining behind.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday accused Russia and the Syrian regime of deliberately bombing hospitals in order to "terrorize" civilians and demanded a war crimes investigation.

"These are acts that beg for an appropriate investigation -- war crimes. And those that commit these will be and should be held accountable for these actions," Kerry told reporters.

France and Britain on Friday called for an end to the Russian and Syrian bombing campaign over Aleppo as the U.N. Security Council began an emergency meeting on the crisis in Syria.

"The top priority is to stop the bloodbath in Aleppo," French Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters as he headed into the council chamber for the closed-door talks.

A 72-hour truce for conflict-riddled Yemen is expected to be announced soon, the U.N. envoy to the Arabian Peninsula country said Friday after talks with rebel representatives.

Russian warship "Mirage" on Friday passed through Istanbul's Bosphorus strait, heading to the Mediterranean to back up Russia's bombing campaign in Syria, AFP journalists reported.

The German government on Friday said it would not rule out backing possible sanctions against Russia over its aerial bombardment of Aleppo, as the United States mulled new embargo against the Syrian regime.

Cross-border rebel shelling from Yemen killed one person and wounded a mother and child in southern Saudi Arabia on Friday, the kingdom's civil defense said.

The German military on Friday said it had grounded nearly half its fleet of Tornado reconnaissance jets, used in the fight against the Islamic State group, because of a technical defect.

Syrian government troops advanced gradually against rebels inside ravaged second city Aleppo on Friday, as the UN Security Council prepared to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the violence.

The assault on rebel-held districts of the divided city has raised international concern, with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura warning east Aleppo could be "totally destroyed" by year's end.