Syrian women must be heard in all efforts to resolve the civil war tearing their country apart, a UN-sponsored conference has declared.

European leaders should hang their heads in shame over refusing and mistreating refugees from Syria, says Amnesty.

Torture, flogging and summary killings are rife in secret prisons run by the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham, an armed group controlling swathes of northern Syria.

Bishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh of Homs and Hama has repeated an appeal for the release of 12 women religious kidnapped in Syria on 2 December.