Beirut building housing Al Jazeera, embassies evacuated after Israeli threats

A central Beirut building home to offices, broadcaster Al Jazeera and the embassies of Norway and Azerbaijan was evacuated Thursday after alleged Israeli threats, a Lebanese security source said.

“The building administration received three phone calls claiming to be from Israel, repeating an order to evacuate the building,” AFP quoted a source as saying.

“As the calls were via an app, it was not possible to determine their source or seriousness so the building containing dozens of offices and firms was evacuated,” added the source.

Norway’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Ragnhild Haland Simenstad told AFP in a written statement that the Norwegian embassy in Beirut received a bomb threat.

“We can confirm that the building where the Norwegian embassy in Beirut is located has received a bomb threat today,” Simenstad said.

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The small number of staff still working there had been evacuated.

Al Jazeera’s Lebanon bureau chief Mazen Ibrahim told Lebanese news portal Naharnet that building’s administration received three calls telling everyone to leave the building.

He said it was unclear who called in the warning, added the report.

Israel has ordered the evacuation of several buildings, as well as entire cities, towns and villages, as it strikes what it says are targets linked to Hezbollah.

There have also been several instances of evacuation warning calls and text messages that turned out to be bogus, which Lebanese security agencies say they are investigating.

Israel has struck central Beirut on four occasions and all came without warnings.

With inputs from agencies