Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met in Cairo on Sunday with Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi for talks about the Syrian conflict, agreeing on the need to move forward but finding little common ground.

"We discussed the situation in Syria... reviewing what has been done so far and if there is any way to move forward. And let us be clear, there wasn't any agreement on anything," al-Arabi told a joint news conference.

Armed forces chief Benny Gantz said on Sunday the Syria conflict could become Israeli business, as fighting between regime forces and rebels raged near Israeli positions on the strategic Golan Heights.

"This is a Syrian affair that could turn into our affair," the army's website quoted him as saying during a visit to troops on the frontier. It added that he told the soldiers to be alert, but did not elaborate further.

Rebels seized a major oilfield and shot down a warplane in eastern Syria Sunday, a watchdog said, notching up new battlefield successes even as the opposition met in Qatar under U.S. pressure for a makeover.

The rebel advances in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor came as their positions were pounded by warplanes around the capital Damascus and in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib.

An explosion shook the area near the Dama Rose hotel in the heart of the Syrian capital on Sunday, wounding 11 civilians, state media reported.

"An explosion caused by terrorists went off near to the Dama Rose hotel and the union federation, which left a number of people wounded and causing damage to the area," Syrian TV said, using the regime's term for armed rebels.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said that Israel is the “primary beneficiary” from the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Wissam al-Hasan to distract the public opinion to other matters.

“What will Syria benefit from killing him?” Salehi wondered in an interview expected to be published in the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper and the Qatari al-Watan newspapers on Saturday.

Details emerged on Saturday of plans to reshape Syria's opposition into a representative government-in-exile, on the eve of key talks between regime opponents.

The talks starting Sunday in the Qatari capital Doha come amid U.S. criticism of the main exiled opposition group, the Syrian National Council (SNC), which Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this week was not representative.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel headed on Saturday to Italy to participate in the 81st Interpol General Assembly and to hold talks with his Italian counterpart Anna Maria Cancellieri, the Central News Agency reported.

“Lebanon's participation in this meeting will reinforce its presence internationally, its cooperation and ties with foreign countries,” Charbel said at the Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport.

A Syrian rights group on Saturday released videos of pro-regime fighters apparently killing prisoners and cutting ears from bodies, after a video showing rebels executing soldiers raised international concerns.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based watchdog, said it had received the videos after the images of rebels appearing to beat and kill captured troops sparked an international uproar.

Syrian rebels launched a major assault in the northwest on Saturday against the Taftanaz airbase used to launch strikes against their positions, activists and a watchdog said.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, said an operation had begun "to liberate the Taftanaz airbase".

The Directorate General of Internal Security Forces on Friday announced that it is conducting the necessary investigations in order to identify those who attacked its checkpoint in the border town of Arsal and wounded 12 policemen on Thursday.

“A verbal clash erupted when the members of the checkpoint asked unidentified individuals about the name of a wounded man they were trying to transport via the Hmeid Valley in Arsal's barren mountains after he was injured in clashes in Syria,” said a statement issued by the ISF.