This year's record refugee influx will bring sweeping social, demographic and economic change to Germany, which was long uncomfortable about being known as a country of migrants, analysts say.

Europe's top economy is expecting to welcome 800,000 asylum seekers this year, almost double the previous high in 1992, when it took in 438,000 refugees from the war-torn former Yugoslavia.

An Iraqi family caught up in the boat accident that claimed the life of Aylan Kurdi buried their two children on Wednesday who drowned along with the Syrian toddler.

The bodies of eight-year-old boy Haidar and 12-year-old girl Zainab, who died in the accident off the coast of Turkey, arrived at Baghdad airport and were buried in the Shiite shrine city of Karbala, AFP journalists said.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday bowed to pressure to increase refugee numbers in the face of the Middle East crisis and confirmed Canberra will also join U.S.-led air strikes on the Islamic State group in Syria.

With his hardline against asylum-seekers under intense scrutiny given the drama unfolding in Europe, Abbott said the government was acting "with our head as well as with our heart" to help the thousands of migrants fleeing the conflict.

Syria has denied reports of increased military activity by Russian troops on its soil, after Washington said it was following up on claims of ramped up support from Moscow.

Speaking late Monday to Hizbullah's al-Manar television station, Information Minister Omran Zohbi dismissed the reports as baseless.

Brazil will welcome Syrian refugees with "open arms," President Dilma Rousseff said Monday, as various Latin American nations sought to help with the human tidal wave fleeing the war-torn country.

In a video message marking Brazil's Independence Day, Rousseff said she wanted to "reiterate the government's willingness to welcome those who, driven from their homeland, want to come live, work and contribute to the prosperity and peace of Brazil." 

Britain will take 20,000 Syrian refugees from camps near the war-torn country's borders over the next five years, Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday, under pressure to address the crisis.

"We are proposing the UK should resettle up to 20,000 refugees over the life of this parliament," Cameron said in a speech in the House of Commons.

The Taliban have condemned the killing of 13 minority Hazaras as a plot to "breed fault lines", in an apparent dig at the rival Islamic State group making gradual inroads into Afghanistan.

Gunmen on Saturday shot dead 13 Hazaras after dragging them out of their vehicles in the usually tranquil northern Balkh province, in a rare fatal attack targeting ethnic minorities.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said he would not allow Israel to be "submerged" by refugees after calls for Israel to take in those fleeing Syria's war.

Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu also announced the start of construction of a fence along Israel's border with Jordan, according to his office.

Syrian authorities have detained a member of al-Qaida affiliate Al-Nusra Front who admitted the group's responsibility for a double bomb attack in the country's Druze heartland, state media said Sunday.

The arrested man, named as Al-Wafed Abu Tarabeh, reportedly also confessed the group was behind attacks on government property in Sweida city after the bombings, which killed 31 people.

Australian leader Tony Abbott said Sunday the government would welcome a higher portion of Syrian refugees amid Europe's humanitarian crisis, but would not increase its annual refugee intake.

Europe is facing an unprecedented influx of people seeking safe-havens, many from war-torn Syria, with the human cost of the crisis reflected in images of Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi whose body washed up on a Turkish beach.