Following Israel’s assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the potent organisation Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran, the Lebanese army issued a warning to its citizens on Sunday about any activities that would disrupt public order in the crisis-ridden nation.

Following the major hit that killed Nasrallah on Friday and while Israeli attacks continue, the army issued a statement in which it “calls on citizens to preserve national unity and not to be drawn into actions that may affect civil peace at this dangerous and delicate stage.”

The army statement further stated, “The Israeli enemy is working to implement its destructive plans and sow division among Lebanese.”

Little Lebanon has been split along sectarian lines for a long time, which fuelled a bloody civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990.

Some Lebanese politicians have criticised Hezbollah for opening a “support front” against Israel over the Gaza war almost a year ago. Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim movement that is very powerful in southern Lebanon and whose military might is thought to dwarf that of Lebanon’s national armed forces.

According to a Lebanese army spokesman, troops have been stationed in Beirut since Saturday. There, thousands of people have sought safety from frequent Israeli raids on the southern, eastern, and southern Beirut bastion of Hezbollah.

In order to maintain civil order, Prime Minister Najib Mikati asked Lebanese “to come together.”

After shortening his trip to New York to attend the UN General Assembly, he declared on Saturday that “setting aside political differences is our national responsibility at this historic and exceptional moment.”

In a message posted on X on Sunday, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, likewise urged togetherness.

“Now is the time for the country to focus on the common interest that unites its people at this critical moment when uncertainty is rife in Lebanon,” the speaker stated.

Since the Palestinian terrorist group’s historic attack on Israel on October 7 that sparked a war in Gaza, Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging cross-border gunfire in support of Hamas, an ally.

However, Israel moved the focus of its campaign this week from Gaza to Lebanon, where tens of thousands of people have been displaced and hundreds of people have died as a result of intense bombing since Monday.