THESE are the heartbreaking images which depict the horror of war in Syria in a more direct and poignant way than the most seasoned war reporter could ever convey.

The pictures were all drawn by Syrian children living in refugee camps outside their country, and depict graphic scenes of the civil war which they and their families have fled.



Each image contains distressing images of war, as viewed through the eyes of children. Nothing is glorified. There are no heroes. There is just the endless menace of helicopters, warplanes, tanks and soldiers armed with guns.



And there are bodies. In each of the pictures, there are dead bodies lying prone in the streets.



The Syrian civil war has now been raging for more than two years. Officially, more than 100,000 people have been killed but the real number may be much higher.



Civilians are estimated to account for up to half the dead, including countless children. Hard as it is to believe, the children who drew these haunting pictures are the lucky ones.



Not that their ordeal is over once they've escaped. Refugee camps in neighbouring countries such as Iraq and Lebanon are overflowing.



"Four million people have fled Syria and they are fleeing at the rate of seven thousand people a day," says UNICEF spokeswoman Kate Moore.



To put that in perspective, the exodus equates to roughly the same as Australia's annual refugee intake – every two days.



"Conditions in the refugee camps are pretty dire," Ms Moore says. "We are struggling to keep up with disease control. There was a measles outbreak recently, and measles is one of the top killers for kids under five.



"Many of the children in the camps were born and raised there. We are trying to provide sanitation and education and child trauma counselling."



A UNICEF report out this week puts the cost to meet the needs of the more than 800,000 children displaced by conflict in Syria at $127.4 million.



The report, Syria's Children: A Lost Generation, states that to date, only $27.2 million has been received by international donors. With refugee numbers expected to climb, the pressure on available resources is high.



You can donate here at Unicef.org.au/syria. Just $50 can buy necessary clothes, blankets and other essentials for a family that fled their home, leaving everything behind.