A 5.5 earthquake hit central Syria late Monday, with the shock felt in neighboring Lebanon, official media in both countries said.
AFP journalists in Beirut and Damascus also said they felt the tremor.
Residents descended to the streets in Beirut, fearing a stronger quake that would collapse buildings. In Lebanon, nerves were already on edge due to fears of an escalation in the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and Israeli forces that could pull the country into a full-on war.
"An earthquake of 5.5 on the Richter scale struck east of Hama city at 11:56 pm," Syria's state-run SANA news agency said, quoting Raed Ahmed, who heads the National Earthquake Center.
The United States Geological Survey said the quake that struck Syria had a magnitude of 5.0.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said "some residents of Beirut" and other areas "felt a light earthquake at 11:56 pm."
On February 6, 2023, a pre-dawn 7.8-magnitude tremor killed nearly 60,000 people in Turkey and Syria.