BEIRUT (AFP) - A moderate earthquake shook southern Lebanon overnight causing no damage but sending many panicked residents into the streets in the coastal town of Tyre, officials said on Tuesday.

The tremor struck at 2:20 a.m. (00:20 GMT) and measured 4.0 on the open-ended Richter scale, Moueen Hamze, head of Lebanon’s National Centre for Scientific Research, told AFP. "The epicenter of the quake was six kilometers (four miles) east of Tyre," Hamze said, adding that no damage was reported.

The last earthquake of such magnitude to shake the country took place in 2001 with its epicenter in the Bekaa region of eastern Lebanon and was also felt in Beirut.

The Geophysical Institute of Israel measured Monday night’s tremor at 4.1 and said it was also felt in northern Israel, across the border from Lebanon. No casualties or damage were reported in the Jewish state.

Seismology experts in Israel warn of a major earthquake within years because of a major faultline in the region.