NNA - UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander LT. Gen. Aroldo Lazarothe issued the following joint statement: "We deplore the death of civilians - young children and teenagers - in Majdal Shams. Civilians must be protected at all times.

We urge the parties to exercise maximum restraint and to put a stop to the ongoing intensified exchanges of fire. It could ignite a wider conflagration that would engulf the entire region in a catastrophe beyond belief.

UNIFIL and UNSCOL are in contact with both Lebanon and Israel."

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