Concerns about all-out war are causing in Lebanon, warnings of the Israelis for the people of the south Lebanon but also parts of Beirut to evacuate villages and neighborhoods, just before the current large-scale bombings began, causing a bloodbath.
Analysts say the warnings to Beirut residents suggest Israel may be planning to expand its bombing campaign in the capital.
Also worrying are indications that Israel has breached the country’s telecommunications networks.
New Israeli strike in Beirut targeting top Hezbollah commander
OR access to personal data throughout Lebanon
What happened?
Residents of villages in southern Lebanon and some districts of Beirut received messages and phone calls from a Lebanese number on Monday morning urging them to move away from Hezbollah strongholds.
Some received recorded calls on their cellphones or landlines, while others received text messages, Al Jazeera’s Mazen Ibrahim reported from Beirut.
The messages were all the same
A message obtained by Al Jazeera was delivered at around 8:20 a.m. and read: “If you are in a building with Hezbollah weapons, stay away until further notice.”
Radio transmissions were “hacked” to transmit the messages, Al Jazeera correspondents said.
“We urge residents of Lebanese villages to heed the message and warning issued by the Israeli army and take them into consideration,” Hagari said in a video posted on the X platform on Monday morning.
The areas where evacuation was requested, with the exception of a few who refuse to leave their homes, have already left more than 100,000 citizens in the 11 months of the war with Hamas and the exchanges of fire between Israel and Lebanon have intensified.
And the Minister of Information “victim”
In Beirut, Lebanon’s Information Minister Ziad Makari was among those who received a recorded call, according to the state-run National News Agency.
“What we don’t know is how Israel got hold of these citizens’ details. Is it because of a data leak or because Israel breached Lebanon’s telecommunications infrastructure?” Al Jazeera’s correspondent reports.
Are they more than just warnings?
Israel says its military sends warnings before bombings to minimize civilian casualties. This has been the country’s argument in Gaza during the ongoing war there.
But events on the ground do not bear this out. In many cases, Israeli bombs have hit buildings whose residents received no warning. In other cases in Gaza, Israeli forces have targeted civilians trying to flee.
This is not surprising, said conflict analyst Elijah Magnier.
Magnier, who closely follows Israel’s hostilities in the Middle East, told Al Jazeera that Israel had breached Lebanon’s networks long before October 8.
“They have access to landlines, license plate numbers, mobile phones – to the point where they can contact anyone in southern Lebanon, just as they can in the West Bank or Gaza,” he said.
Sophisticated technology and spying equipment mean Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency can map exactly who lives where, what phone numbers they have and who frequents their homes, Magnier said.
“This is an extremely serious attack on the security of Lebanon and its citizens, with which Israel violates people’s dignity and privacy and directly threatens their lives,” Amal Mudalili, Lebanon’s permanent representative to the United Nations, wrote in a letter to the UN Security Council, calling for condemnation of Israel’s “hostile” behavior.
