MOSCOW, July 19 (RIA Novosti) - The second plane with Russian citizens evacuated from Beirut is ready to take off from an airport in Syria as the conflict in Lebanon entered its second week, a Russian diplomat said Wednesday.
More than 200 people have been killed in Lebanon in seven days of Israeli missile and air strikes, while more than 20 Israelis have been killed in attacks mounted by militant group Hizbollah.
"An Il-76 plane will take off in about an hour," Yevgeny Pastukhov, a press-attache at the Russian Embassy in Syria said. "It will carry approximately 140-150 people."
He said that among the passengers on board the plane were not only Russian citizens, but citizens from the Commonwealth of Independent States as well.
The first plane with evacuated Russian and CIS citizens left Syria earlier Wednesday, carrying 162 people on board.
