Israeli warplanes attacks shipment of Russian missiles inside Syrian government stronghold, a development that threatens to add another volatile layer to tensions.

Syria has completed the destruction of equipment used to produce chemical weapons, a global watchdog has said, meeting another deadline in an ambitious timeline to eliminate the country's entire stockpile by mid-2014.

The UN has confirmed an outbreak of polio in Syria for the first time in over a decade, warning the disease threatens to spread among an estimated half-million children who have never been immunised because of the civil war.

"Of course there is hatred in my heart," a Syrian father tells Newstalk ZB host Rachel Smalley. "They destroyed my home, my dream, my life."

He's practically a one man band, but Rami Abdurrahman's influence extends far beyond his modest home in this small English city.

Amid all the bloodshed, confusion and deadlock of Syria's civil war, one fact is emerging after 2 1/2 years - no conflict ever has been covered this way.

The US has urged the Syrian Government to allow immediate aid convoys to starving civilians cut off in rebel-held suburbs of Damascus.

A tweet that appeared to suggest Israel had attacked Syria sent US oil prices soaring - until traders realised the post referred to the 40th anniversary of a war.

Former APNZ reporter Kate Shuttleworth spoke to Syrian evacuees in Jordan about their daily dilemma.

The 11-year-old's singed hair is matted with dirt and blood.

Syria's foreign minister has claimed that his government is fighting a war against al-Qaeda-linked militants who eat human hearts and dismember people while they are still alive, then send their limbs to family members.

Inspectors charged with the enormous task of overseeing the destruction of Syria's deadly chemical weapons stockpiles have kicked off their mission, racing to meet tight deadlines against the backdrop of civil war.

Prime Minister John Key says a draft Security Council resolution on Syria does not go far enough in ensuring the Syrian regime is held to account.

Rachel Smalley went to Syria with the help of World Vision and saw the impact of the country's refugee crisis through the eyes of a 14-year-old girl.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that he could not be sure attempts to persuade Syria to surrender its chemical weapons would succeed.

The trajectory of the rockets that delivered the nerve agent sarin in last month's deadly attack is among the key evidence linking elite Syrian troops based in the mountains overlooking Damascus to the strike that killed hundreds of people.

The poison gas attacks in Damascus were launched from a military base controlled by Bashar al-Assad's forces.

The United Nations denounced a war crime in Syria when a chilling investigation found that sarin nerve gas was used against civilians including children.

A high-ranking Syrian official called the US-Russian agreement on securing Syria's chemical weapons a "victory" for President Bashar Assad's regime, but the US has warned "the threat of force is real" if Damascus fails to carry out the plan.

In a televised address, French President Francois Hollande says he hasn't ruled out the "military option" against Syria.

Two of the strongest advocates of the need to "teach Bashar al-Assad a lesson" appear to be having difficulty in ensuring their actions have many supporters.

Another year, another crisis in the Middle East. For those who struggle to keep track of them, here's a cut out and keep guide to the world's tinderbox.

Key international players were moving on two diplomatic fronts on the Syrian crisis at the United Nations and Geneva.

A look at how the past days' parallel tracks - pushing for approval of a military attack while pausing to give diplomacy a chance - unfolded.