Lebanon received more than 80,000 suspected Israeli calls on Monday asking people to evacuate, the head of Lebanese telecoms company Ogero Imad Kreidieh said.
Kreidieh described what happened to Reuters as psychological warfare to create panic and chaos.
Lebanese people received Israeli warning messages on their mobile phones, asking them to evacuate their places immediately, as an indication of the possibility of launching broader attacks in light of the confrontation with the Lebanese Hezbollah.
The Lebanese National News Agency said, “Citizens in Beirut and a number of areas are receiving warning text messages via the landline network from the Israeli enemy.”
She explained that the messages asked them to evacuate their locations quickly, as part of the psychological warfare adopted by the enemy.
Psychological warfare and disclaimer
In the same context, she reported that the office of Minister of Information Ziad Makary received a call in which the answering machine called for the evacuation of the building.
Later, Al-Makari said in a statement, “Within the framework of the psychological warfare adopted by the Israeli enemy, a large number of citizens in Beirut and the regions received random, unified phone messages via the landline network, calling on the respondent to evacuate his location,” noting that he had received one of those messages.
The minister explained that this approach is not strange to the Israeli enemy, which uses all means in its psychological warfare, and does not advance or delay anything.
Regarding the effects of the messages on the work of his ministry, Al-Makari said that work in the Ministry of Information is ongoing and normal, and “all employees are devoted to their daily tasks.”
He also called for not giving the matter more attention than it deserves, noting that it is being followed up by the relevant authorities.
Earlier on Monday, the Israeli army warned – via the X platform – residents of villages in Lebanon against being in buildings containing Hezbollah weapons and called on them to move away from them immediately.
In addition to psychological warfare, Israel wants these messages to try to absolve itself of responsibility in the event that international courts consider crimes involving civilians, as is happening regarding the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.
Since October 8, Lebanese and Palestinian factions in Lebanon – most notably Hezbollah – have been exchanging daily shelling with the Israeli army on both sides of the border, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries, most of them on the Lebanese side.