New footage is believed to show the British Isis killer nicknamed 'Jihadi John' unmasked for the first time in Syria.

The Middle East continues its slide into chaos with Turkish warplanes joining the fray in Syria, further embroiling Nato's eastern rampart in that country's civil war.

More than half the 57 million young children still not in classrooms today live in countries torn apart by conflict or natural disaster, writes Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

Militants from Isis (Islamic State) are feared to have begun destruction of Syria's Roman city of Palmyra as the head of Unesco warned of "cultural cleansing" by the extremist group.

Isis jihadists have threatened "a calamity for kuffars" over the fasting month of Ramadan, and released a gruesome video of unorthodox execution methods.

Isis jihadists have planted mines around the ancient ruins in Syria's Palmyra, prompting fears for the Unesco World Heritage site.

The spending represents 13 per cent of global GDP and is roughly the combined value of the economies of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Spain and Brazil.

Jihadists from Isis are preparing a last stand in a key border post between Syria and Turkey, threatening to turn it into another Kobane.

The group's 23,000 followers on Twitter include diplomats, journalists and Pentagon officials. More than 39,000 people have "liked" its Facebook page.

The news that Islamic State (Isis) fighters have advanced to within 100km of Camp Taji where New Zealand's 143 military advisers are based wasn't the only bulletin from the war zone.

Five Sydney children trying to return from Syria have every chance of being reintegrated into Australian society, an expert says.

Prime Minister John Key says New Zealand could not follow suit if Australia moves to strip a New Zealand-Australian woman of citizenship to prevent her returning from Syria.

US Defence Secretary Carter warned that Iraqi troops would not be able to defeat Isis until they developed a "will to fight", reflecting surprise after the collapse in Ramadi.

Isis has used its propaganda magazine Dabiq to suggest the group is expanding so rapidly it could buy its first nuclear weapon within a year.

America claimed a significant blow against Isis when Delta Force commandos launched a rare night-time strike inside eastern Syria, killing a commander.

At the Istanbul Peace Summit last month, Prime Minister John Key rejected Turkish pleas for others to share the burden of the flood of refugees from the Iraqi-Syria bloodbath next door.

A NZ refugee with 24 children who was killed in Iraq has been accused of disrespecting his adopted country by New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.

One of the schoolgirls who disappeared from her east London home in February to travel to Syria has tweeted a picture that appears to confirm she has joined Isis.

A Kiwi jihadist who claims to be fighting in Syria with the Islamic State has called for terror attacks in New Zealand.

Up to 25 New Zealanders want to travel to the Middle East to fight against Isis, local Iraqi and Kurdish leaders say.

A former New Zealander now living in Denmark says her son was killed when he travelled to Syria to fight with Isis after authorities failed to stop him.

The Syrian Government has been accused of again using chemical weapons against civilians as fighting intensifies with fresh rebel attacks in the north of the country.

Islamic State militants in the northern Syrian province of Raqqa have threatened to jail any young man wearing skinny jeans, smoking or with music on his mobile phone.

Campaign to raise money for the forgotten victims of the Syrian crisis raises four times what was hoped for.

A few years ago Damascus was a place of calm in a violent region.

Previous experience has been positive and benefits would outweigh the costs.

It is an image that challenges me emotionally every time I look at it, and the more I look, the more it challenges me.

Ralph Baydoun is a 23-year-old Lebanese videographer based in World Vision's Beirut office and last month we travelled together to some of the more challenging areas of the Middle East - the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and the Lebanon-Syrian border.