Burj Hammoud municipality denies presence of explosives

The municipality of Burj Hammoud, east of Beirut, on Wednesday denied the presence of explosives in the neighborhood, four days after State Security announced it had seized “three 120 mm artillery shells” in a building. The municipality said the shells were actually found outside Burj Hammoud.

On Saturday, State Security said its teams had seized the shells in a Burj Hammoud building, stressing they did not contain explosives and that one carried Hebrew inscriptions. The raid was later handed over to the Lebanese Army’s demining unit, which removed the shells. Authorities did not report any arrests.

The municipality criticized the spread of “unverified” information on social media, saying some users shared rumors without confirming them “with reliable and informed sources.”

It warned that false information risks “causing panic among residents, destabilizing security and harming economic activity,” and said it would not hesitate to take legal action against those who “harm, intentionally or unintentionally, the neighborhood and its residents, both morally and materially.”