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Russian, CIS evacuees from Lebanon stopover in Syria

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BEIRUT, July 21 (RIA Novosti) - A total of 196 citizens of Russia and other ex-Soviet republics evacuated from Lebanon have stopped over in Syria on their way to Moscow, the Russian Embassy said Friday.

The evacuees are now at Lattakia airport in eastern Syria on the Mediterranean, trying to escape the Israeli offensive on the Islamic militant group Hizbollah based in Lebanon.

"At the moment they at the airport and awaiting departure to Moscow," said Vasily Kartuzov of the Russian Embassy in Damascus, responsible for the evacuation effort.

He said 150 Russians and 46 citizens of other former Soviet republics had arrived in Syria in four buses, and would be flown to Moscow later on Friday, and added that two airplanes of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry had arrived in Latakia to pick up the passengers.

Another nine buses with 450 people, organized by the Ukrainian Embassy in Beirut, have also arrived at Latakia, he said.

The first plane with Russians will take off within an hour, Kartuzov said.

"It is impossible to say now when the second plane will depart because we waiting for another group of 30 people expected to come from Damascus to Latakia by their own transportation," he said. "There can also be other refugees coming from Lebanon who we do not know about, so we will be waiting."

In all, the Russian Embassy in Beirut said about 500 were still in the violence-hit country.

The evacuation from the Middle East state, which has been subjected to Israeli air and missile strikes for ten days, was launched Tuesday. Russia has evacuated 1,407 of its nationals and citizens of former Soviet republics as of Thursday evening.

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