US can move 2,000-plus Americans from Lebanon

WASHINGTON, July 18 (Reuters) The United States will be capable of evacuating more than 2,000 Americans from Lebanon tomorrow as it ramps up an operation to ferry its citizens from a country being bombarded by Israel, US officials said.

The United States has the capacity to fly 240 people out tomorrow and use two ships with a total of as many as 2,200 seats for evacuees, Assistant Secretary of State Maura Harty told reporters.

''We will see a dramatic ramp up tomorrow (Wednesday),'' she said, adding that the United States had already evacuated a few hundred Americans.

The United States also hopes to ferry a similar number of its citizens from Lebanon on Thursday as tomorrow, she said.

Washington expects to have to evacuate thousands of Americans eventually.

Reuters DKS GC0055