The United States has organised a flight from Beirut to Istanbul to allow Americans to leave Lebanon amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Reuters reports according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

Miller told a press briefing that around 7,000 US citizens in Lebanon had registered with the US government to receive information about leaving the country, although not all of those are looking for assistance to leave.

Wednesday’s flight had a capacity of about 300 and carried around 100 Americans and their family members, Miller said, adding Washington had been working with airlines since Saturday to make seats available to Americans on commercial flights.