Several news reports have mentioned today that the Israeli military is alerting residents in southern Lebanon to impending strikes by, among other methods, SMS. Besides dropping leaflets and utlizing local radio, the IDF is contacting locals in the Tyre area by mass SMS telling them to leave the area. According to Textually, Israeli start-up Cellact has been offering the system in the region as a means of alerting residents to emergency events.

This isn't the only use of SMS in the conflict so far, however. Swedish officials have used SMS to round up evacuees in Lebanon and tell them where to gather, as have the French.

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