Residents of the Makassed neighborhood in Nabatieh evacuated their homes on Friday as a precaution after several families received text messages on their cell phones in Arabic and Hebrew asking them to leave the area due to an imminent bombing, Civil Defense sources told L'Orient-Le Jour's correspondent.

According to these sources, the competent authorities have been informed and are conducting an investigation. In a screenshot received by L'Orient-Le Jour, text messages in Arabic and Hebrew state, "For your safety and the safety of your family, please evacuate the house within an hour." The sender warns that places used by Hezbollah in the building will be targeted.

"When I received the text message, I was very scared. I left the house quickly and I am now at my son's house, far from the area," a resident told L'Orient-Le Jour. The building was completely evacuated, as were the adjacent buildings.

In the past, Israel has repeatedly dropped leaflets or flyers in southern Lebanon, which were perceived as pressure or threats. In the Gaza war, too, the Israeli army often dropped leaflets over cities asking their residents to leave.

Fears of a war spreading to the entire Middle East between Israel on the one hand and Iran and the groups it supports in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen on the other have been rekindled after Israeli attacks in Tehran and Beirut. Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas and backed by Iran, has been exchanging fire almost daily with the Israeli army along the Lebanese-Israeli border since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, triggered by the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian movement in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.