(18 Jul 2006)
1. Wide exterior of U.S. embassy with marines approaching
2. Various interiors of embassy with U.S. citizens waiting to be evacuated
3. U.S. helicopter approaches and lands
4. Cutaway of helicopter
5. Various of marines unloading goods
6. Various of marines preparing citizens for flight
7. Various of citizens boarding helicopter
8. Mid shot U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey D. Feltman watching
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey D. Feltman, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon:
"Our top priority today was the safety of these Americans. We were able to move today about 320 (people), tomorrow it will be more than a thousand. We have a progression throughout the week, and as long as it takes."
10. Wide of helicopter leaving
11. Various of British vessel HMS Gloucester arriving in Beirut port
12. Various of vessel docked in port
13. Various of British naval officers in port
14. Wide of vessel
STORYLINE
More than a hundred Americans were evacuated from Lebanon to Cyprus by U.S. military helicopters on Tuesday, with an additional two hundred set to leave by boat before the end of the day.
The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey D. Feltman defended the process in the face of Americans' complaints that it took too long to start moving them out.
He said the top priority was the safety of U.S. citizens.
"We were able to move today about 320, tomorrow it will be more than 1-thousand," Feltman said.
A number of helicopters could be seen leaving Beirut on Tuesday just before sunset, half the people left on helicopters earlier in the day.
Feltman said the embassy did not have the experience to move so many people, but the government did.
The move out did not start until a team of U.S. security experts arrived in Lebanon over the weekend to plan the evacuation.
Meanwhile, a British warship docked at Beirut port to help in the evacuation of British nationals wishing to escape the fighting between Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas and Israel.
The destroyer HMS Gloucester arrived at the Beirut seaport in the afternoon as British helicopters continued to ferry people out of the country for the second day.
The destroyer was expected to carry between 100 to 250 British and depart in the evening for Cyprus, where it was due to arrive by dawn on Wednesday, the British military said.
On Monday and again Tuesday, two British military helicopters landed on a coastal strip near Beirut to pick up dozens of Britons and fly them to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus near Lebanon where British forces have a base.
Other British citizens wishing to leave have been advised to converge on an assembly point where some will be taken to board a commercial ship.
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