
View of the highway connecting Beirut to Jounieh, on June 21, 2022. (Credit: Philippe Hage Boutros)
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The claim
At around 2:30 p.m. on Monday, residents of the ‘Flower Building’ in the Mar Doumit district of Sahel Alma (Kesrouan) received a call to evacuate, due to an “imminent threat” from the Israeli army.
The cause: Rockets stored in the apartment of a Hezbollah fighter living in the building.
Who is behind the claim?
An Israeli number called and sent messages on WhatsApp on Monday afternoon to residents of the building concerned, urging them to leave the premises. A little later, a report attributed to the local channel Al Jadeed made the rounds on social networks, stating that Hezbollah weapons were in the building.
Key context/the actual facts:
This threat comes at a time when the Israeli army has been issuing evacuation notices to residents of certain villages in southern Lebanon and neighborhoods in Beirut's southern suburbs for several weeks, ahead of its strikes against areas where it claims ‘Hezbollah [military] installations’ are located.
Contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour, a senior source in the Lebanese Army confirmed that no rockets had been found in the ‘Flower Building’ in Sahel Alma, which was evacuated on Monday afternoon.
Al Jadeed also denied the message broadcast in its name.
In summary: True, false or misleading?
We have concluded that the claim is false.
Further reading:
Before you go...
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