French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday called for a new Syria peace conference as part of efforts to end a conflict which has claimed some 250,000 lives and destablised the whole region.

"I call for a new peace conference so that all the countries who want to see peace restored in Syria can contribute," Hollande said.

"All those who can contribute... should get around the table," he said as he went into an emergency EU leaders summit in Brussels on how to deal with an influx of refugees, many of them fleeing the war in Syria.