Lives of thousands of children are at risk in Syria, warns Australian aid agency Save the Children saying a President of U.N. Security Council, Australia has "a real opportunity" to help protect these children and ensure they have access to the humanitarian aid they need.

It is clear that the Syrian crisis will be the key focus of Australian diplomacy during its tenure as President of the Security Council. The timing of the presidency has been one of significant challenges of Australian diplomats at the U.N. Contending candidates of Prime Minister-ship Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott have held diametrically opposing views on the question of international involvement in the Syrian civil war.

With the federal election now over, it is possible that Abbott may adopt a more consensus and cautions approach towards Syria. Meanwhile, Save the Children, which has been working in working inside Syria says, thousands of children remain trapped, without access to medical care, food or proper shelter, inside the conflict-ridden country.

"Already more than 7,000 children have been killed and thousands more are at risk in what has now become the worst humanitarian crisis of our generation." said Stephen McDonald, Head of Humanitarian Save the Children.

He called up Australia, as President of the U.N. Security Council, saying it has "a real opportunity" to help protect these children and ensure they have access to the humanitarian aid they need.

"After almost three years of conflict the toll on Syrian children has been enormous - their homes and schools have been attacked, they have been severely injured, traumatised and forced to flee in terror. As President of the U.N. Security Council, Australia must not avert its gaze from the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding for children in Syria and across the region." McDonald said in a news release.

Save the Children is working inside Syria and in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt, and is scaling up its response in anticipation of a potential mass influx of refugees into neighbouring countries ahead of possible escalations in the conflict in the coming days and weeks as world leaders move to decide on any intervention into the conflict, the release said.

The aid agency is already providing support to more than 600,000 children and families in Syria and the region, delivering life-saving medical care, food, education, shelter and protection, the statement said.