Israeli brochures were dropped by drones in southern Lebanon today, asking residents to evacuate, state media and a local official said, with the Israeli military saying the move was by an Israeli brigade, for which it had not received approval, saying that an investigation has been launched into the incident.

This is the first time Israeli leaflets have been dropped in southern Lebanon asking residents to leave since clashes began in early October between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah group, an ally of Palestinian Hamas.

According to Lebanon’s state news agency (ANI), the “Israeli enemy” leaflets were dropped over Ouazani, about 5 kilometers from the border.

Mayor Ahmad al-Mohammad sent AFP a photo of the leaflets showing a map of the area with some of them marked in red, and from which residents were told to move away.

“To all residents of the refugee camp areas, Hezbollah is firing from your area. You must leave your homes immediately and head for the northern area of ​​Hyam before 4:00 p.m. and not return to that area until the end of the war,” the leaflet read.

“Any person found in this area after this time will be considered a terrorist,” he added.

Asked by AFP, the Israeli military confirmed that the drop of leaflets was an “initiative of the 769 Brigade which was not approved by the Northern Command”, adding that it had launched an investigation into the incident.

The leaflets were dropped by drones in an area from which “rockets have been fired into northern Israel in recent weeks,” the army said.

An AFP cameraman saw Syrian families preparing to evacuate their makeshift shelters, with small children carrying their belongings in plastic bags.

Some families were taken to an area a few kilometers to the north, said the operator, who saw women and children unloading a truck full of mattresses.

“Syrian workers are leaving the area (…) But we, we are farmers and we have cattle. We cannot leave our land,” said Mayor Mohammad, referring to the Syrian refugees working as farmers in Ouazani.

As the fighting has led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people across the border, Hezbollah’s number two, Naim Kassem, said on Saturday that all-out war with Israel would lead to the displacement of “hundreds of thousands” of additional Israelis.

Cross-border violence since early October has left 623 dead in Lebanon, most of them fighters but also at least 142 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

On the Israeli side, including in the annexed Golan Heights, authorities have announced the deaths of at least 24 soldiers and 26 civilians.

In the Gaza Stripwhere Israel and Hamas have been fighting for 11 months, the Israeli army regularly drops leaflets asking residents to evacuate sites the army will bomb.