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A view of damaged buildings following Israeli attacks on Laylaki and Haret Hireyk neighborhood of Dahieh region in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. The U.S. State Department on Thursday said it was working to get Americans who want out of the country on outbound flights. So far, the Biden administration has aided 250 Americans and their families flee Lebanon. Photo by Fadel Itani/UPI
A view of damaged buildings following Israeli attacks on Laylaki and Haret Hireyk neighborhood of Dahieh region in Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. The U.S. State Department on Thursday said it was working to get Americans who want out of the country on outbound flights. So far, the Biden administration has aided 250 Americans and their families flee Lebanon. Photo by Fadel Itani/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 3 (UPI) — About 250 Americans and their families have left Lebanon aboard U.S.-arranged flights, Biden officials said Thursday, as they seek to provide assistance to U.S. citizens in the Middle Eastern country.

The State Department is urging Americans to depart Lebanon now, as southern Lebanon has come under heavy attack by Israel as it targets Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters during a press conference Thursday that they are working to provide Americans in the country with “as many options as possible” to flee the country.

He said two flights have already transported around 250 people, including Americans and their immediate family members, out of the country for Istanbul, Turkey, with the second flight having departed Beirut Thursday morning with 134 passengers. The first flight had been arranged on Wednesday.

More than 1,400 seats have also been made available for U.S. citizens on flights departing Lebanon, though many remain unclaimed, he said.

“While we don’t know the total number of U.S. citizens who have left via the seats we have made available on commercial flights, we do know that a high percentage of those seats have been filled,” he said.

For Americans in the country who do not wish to leave, including dual citizens who have lived there for years or those who have families there, they are making loans available to help them to relocate to safer areas within Lebanon, he added.

Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah have been trading attacks across their shared border since the second day of Israel’s war against Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza that began on Oct. 7.

The cross-border fighting forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of northern Israelis, and Israel recently vowed that one of its goals of war is to return them to their homes.

Numerous countries have moved to evacuate their citizens from Lebanon, including Germany, which organized a flight on Wednesday to assist 130 “particularly vulnerable German citizens” with leaving Lebanon, its foreign ministry said in a statement.

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