WASHINGTON — The State Department says that nearly 900 American citizens, green card holders and their families have now left Lebanon on U.S.-contracted flights since late September.
Another 150 Americans, legal permanent residents and immediate family left Beirut on Monday on a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Watch the State Department briefing in the player above.
The U.S. has so far organized eight flights — most to Istanbul but at least one to Frankfurt, Germany — since fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensified at the end of last month.
Each of those flights, which cost $283 per person, has had a capacity of 300 passengers for a total of 2,400 seats, meaning that fewer than half of the available seats have been occupied.
Miller said about 8,500 Americans citizens, many of them dual U.S.-Lebanese nationals, have reached out to the U.S. embassy in Beirut for information about how to leave the country.