The latest evacuation call came as the military’s home front command activated sirens at regular intervals along the border as dozens of projectiles were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory since Sunday morning.

“You are currently located near the facilities and assets associated with Hezbollah, which the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) will be targeting in the near future,” the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X addressed to residents of Baalbek and Douris.

The Israeli air force intercepted several projectiles that were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory, while some fell in open areas, the military said in a statement.

On Thursday, rocket fire from Lebanon killed seven people in the town of Metula in northern Israel, including four Thai farmers.

Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have been locked in a deadly war since Sept 23, which has killed more than 1,900 people in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.

Israel’s military says 38 soldiers have been killed in the Lebanon campaign since it began ground operations on Sept 30.

Clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants first erupted on Oct 8 last year when the Lebanese group began firing rockets into Israel in support of its ally Hamas, a day after the Palestinian militant group launched an unprecedented attack on Israel from Gaza.

Hamas’s Oct 7 attack on Israel resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s sweeping military response against Hamas has led to the deaths of 43,314 Palestinians in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry, which the UN considers to be reliable.