Sonny Bill Williams tweets graphic photos

Refugee Fatima speaks to Sonny Bill Williams. Photo: UNICEF New Zealand/Twitter

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All Black Sonny Bill Williams has tweeted graphic photos of dead children in an effort to bring greater attention to the plight of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Williams recently returned from a camp in Lebanon, where he was working as a Unicef ambassador to highlight the plight of Syrian children and their families.

The two images show young children lying on the ground with wounds to their heads, torso and legs. Williams visited the settlements in the Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border.

He tweeted: "I came here and what I've heard, what I've seen, I've just been shocked and it's just made me realise how ignorant I was. The thing that really touched me was, coming here, I didn't really know what a refugee was."

Sonny Bill Williams @UNICEFNZ @UNICEFLebanon pic.twitter.com/VIfej8Hyfn

— UNICEF New Zealand (@UNICEFNZ) December 8, 2015

Williams has talked about meeting a 12-year-old girl named Fatima who escaped to Lebanon from Syria with her family two years ago, Fairfax reported.

She had been traumatised after seeing her best friend die in a bombing while they were walking together in Syria. Music has helped her overcome her horrific experience, and she has created a girls' support group.

"We're so lucky where we live, but we're so out of touch," SBW said.

"Everyone's mindset is to feel that refugees are a problem, but it's more than that. They're human beings too. They were forced from their homes.

Sonny playing Yehiah @UNICEFNZ @SonnyBWilliams pic.twitter.com/MCBgdwQV9i

— UNICEF New Zealand (@UNICEFNZ) December 7, 2015

"Everyone is fighting over who has to take them on, it's like everyone's reluctant to do that."

Lebanon shelters more than 1.2 million refugees from the Syrian conflict, which began five years ago.

Response to the photos have been mixed. Some have praised Williams for bringing attention to the crisis, and others say it could incite dangerous reactions and was disrespectful to the dead.Williams' All Black and Chiefs teammate Liam Messam tweeted: "Good work, my brother."