The opposition Syrian National Coalition plans to meet in Istanbul next week to elect a prime minister for rebel-held areas of the country, a member said on Friday.

Syria's devastating conflict entered its third year on Friday with EU leaders frustrated over the failure of diplomacy to end the bloodshed pressing to arm rebels despite Russia's objections.

French President Francois Hollande urged Europe's leaders on Thursday to lift an arms embargo on Syria to help rebels battling for nearly two years to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Israel's military intelligence chief on Thursday said the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has contingency plans to use chemical weapons as it battles insurgents.

The balance of power in Syria will eventually shift to rebel forces but a protracted civil war risks destabilising the whole region, a leading think-tank warned Thursday in its annual report on world military strengths.

Chinese-made missiles have been used to shoot down two Syrian army helicopters, state media reported Thursday, adding their performance could boost the international sales appeal of Chinese weapons.

The Philippines said Thursday it would keep its contingent of United Nations peacekeepers in the Golan Heights, after Syrian rebels held 21 of them hostage for three days last week.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Wednesday that arming Syrian rebels would breach international law, after Western powers dropped growing hints about giving military aid.

Britain would consider ignoring a European Union arms ban and supplying weapons to Syrian rebels if it would help topple President Bashar al-Assad, Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday.

Israel's Shimon Peres called Tuesday for Arab intervention "to stop the massacre" in Syria as he delivered the first speech by an Israeli head of state to the European Parliament in almost three decades.

A Turkish court has formally charged four Syrians and one Turk with a deadly bomb attack on the volatile border with Syria last month, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

Israel's military chief Benny Gantz said on Monday that "terrorist" groups fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad alongside other insurgents were becoming stronger.

Turkish security forces arrested Monday four Syrians linked to President Bashar al-Assad's regime over a deadly bomb attack on the volatile border last month, the interior minister said.

A top Syrian opposition official met Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday in a bid to reverse Moscow's refusal to back calls on President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

Syrian jets bombed Baba Amr in Homs city in a bid Monday to repulse a rebel attack on the strategic neighbourhood, a watchdog said, as Al-Qaeda claimed the killing of 48 Syrian soldiers on Iraqi territory.

Al-Qaeda front group the Islamic State of Iraq claimed an attack on a convoy in west Iraq that killed 48 Syrian soldiers and nine Iraqi guards, in a statement posted on jihadist forums on Monday.

French President Francois Hollande on Friday lamented the deadlock over Syria, lashing out at Russia for not pressuring President Bashar al-Assad to step down and allow for a political transition in the conflict-torn country.

A UN convoy attempting to pick up 21 Filipino peackeepers that their Syrian rebel captors had agreed to free was forced back by a barrage of army shelling on Friday, a watchdog said.

A top Syrian regime official thanked the BRICS group of emerging powers on Friday for its support, which she said had prevented Western military intervention and the "destruction" of the country.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated Friday that Moscow will not push Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to quit, saying it would be against Russian policy and in any case would be futile.