Internally displaced Lebanese persons in a cinema transformed into a reception center in Beirut on Oct. 24, 2024. (Credit: Patrick Baz/ Illustration photo AFP)
For the second time in two days, phone calls urging residents in various parts of Lebanon to evacuate their buildings have caused widespread panic. Testimonies gathered by L’Orient Today's correspondent and information from local media outlets confirmed that calls were received Friday in locations including Furn al-Shubbak on the outskirts of Beirut in the Baabda district, in a hotel in the Raouche neighborhood in central Bierut, as well as in Birqayel and Howeish in Akkar, North Lebanon.
These calls, the source of which remains unidentified by security forces, follow a similar spate of evacuation calls earlier this week that targeted areas such as Serop, Maghdoucheh, Ain al-Helweh, all in Saida, Mazraat Yashouh in Metn, and Barja in Chouf, as well as neighborhoods in Beirut. The calls, originating from numbers with a Russian "+7" country code, carried recorded messages instructing residents to evacuate their buildings within a 500-meter radius “for their safety.”
The wording closely mirrors daily appeals made by Avichay Adraee, the Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli army. These calls were not followed by Israeli bombardment and were deemed as illegitimate by local officials.
Panic in Akkar
In Akkar, where many displaced people from southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs have sought refuge, the calls sparked significant panic. Residents reportedly contacted security forces to verify the messages.
A security source told L’Orient Le-Jour on Thursday that the calls were likely not legitimate evacuation orders. "Most of the calls are coming from abroad," the source said, adding that investigations were underway. Another official noted that public telecoms provider Ogero had been coordinating efforts to block such calls, which are often successfully intercepted.
So far, none of the areas receiving these calls has been officially threatened by the Israeli military. However, the Israeli army has issued evacuation orders for other locations in southern Lebanon, including parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs, areas near Sour, and a building within the city itself. These areas were subsequently bombed, escalating fears of similar attacks elsewhere. Additionally, the Israeli army has often bombed areas without issuing previous evacuation orders.
According to correspondent in the Bekaa, a Lebanese soldier living near a school in Fakeha received a similar call. The school, which serves as a reception center for 13 displaced families, was evacuated. The displaced families sought shelter in their cars, parked several hundred meters away.
In northern Lebanon, a similar incident was reported in Mina, Tripoli, where a resident received an evacuation call regarding a building near the Arab University. The building, along with several neighboring ones, was evacuated.
'It's survival instinct'
A resident of the Brasilia neighborhood near Hazmieh, in southeast Beirut’s Baabda district, described receiving a similar call during the night that triggered panic. After alerting his neighbors, he said he "jumped out of bed" and fled the building "without socks."
His housekeeper, an Ethiopian national, reportedly grabbed his "savings and a statuette of the Virgin Mary." The resident, disoriented, repeatedly returned to his apartment searching for his keys, unaware they were already in his pocket, before finally leaving.
"It’s survival instinct," he explained. Once the initial panic subsided, he checked to see if the Israeli army had threatened his building. He soon realized the evacuation warnings issued by Adraee were directed at Beirut’s southern suburbs. He speculated that individuals with properties in those areas were receiving calls, even if they no longer lived there.
In another case, a woman in the Sioufi neighborhood of Achrafieh, in central Beirut, said she received a call on her landline during the night, leaving her "paralyzed with fear."
"I stayed in bed, unable to move," she said, adding that she did not wake her husband, unsure whether the call was "a prank or a real warning." Her number, registered in her name from her time living in the Gallery Semaan area near the southern suburbs, was called again in the morning. This time, she chose not to answer. The Gallery Semaan area has been the target of an Israeli strike last month.