Egyptians fleeing the scourge of war in Lebanon to neighboring Syria returned home on Thursday aboard two military aircraft that President Hosni Mubarak had ordered to be sent to Damascus to bring them back.

Some 334 of them returned on board the two planes. 536 others were ferried by two Egypt Air planes and 286 two Syrian aircraft.

A safe return of Egyptians from Lebanon is what the Egyptian Foreign Ministry is working for, Assistant Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs Magdi El-Dorghami said.

An operations room has been set up to coordinate efforts through the ministries of defence, interior and aviation at home and Egypt's embassies in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, Dorghami said in statements Thursday.

This, he said, is done to facilitate the evacuation of Egyptian citizens who happen to be in Lebanon at such critical time.

To talk about the Egyptian community in Lebanon is to talk about 15,000 citizens, let alone tourists, the Egyptian official noted.

Of this figure, some 4,100 Egyptians were evacuated, dorghami added.

He noted that measures were being taken to facilitate the transfer of some 1,500 others, whose journey back home has already started.

July 21, 2006