Increasing numbers of children in Syria are being recruited by armed groups on both sides of the conflict, Save the Children says in a report, according to BBC News.

Children are being used as porters, guards, informers and fighters and, in some cases, as human shields, the UK charity said in Childhood Under Fire.

Some two million children are in need of assistance in Syria, Save the Children estimates. It says the two-year conflict has affected all aspects of their lives.

Researchers from Turkey found that three in every four Syrian children they interviewed had lost a loved one because of the fighting, the report says.

Many have lost access to healthcare and are living in unsanitary conditions where the risk of disease is high. Their families are struggling for food as shortages send prices beyond the reach of poorer families.

Their education has been disrupted as some 2,000 schools have either been damaged by the fighting or become temporary shelters for displaced people.

Syria's children are the conflict's "forgotten victims - facing death, trauma and suffering, and deprived of basic humanitarian aid", the report said.

Save the Children has appealed for international help, but said: "The only way to stop their suffering is to bring an end to the war."

The report said it had found a growing pattern of children under the age of 18 being used by armed groups on both sides in the conflict.

For many children and their families, it is seen as a source of pride, the report says, but some children are being forcibly recruited into military activities.

In some cases, children as young as eight have been used as human shields, the report says.