A total of 82 Chinese citizens have been evacuated from Lebanon to Syria by Tuesday and most are on their way back home, Chinese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday evening.

The evacuees included seven compatriots from Hong Kong, a foreign ministry statement said.

Some embassy officials have also been evacuated, but others will stay behind to pay close attention to the safety of those Chinese citizens who remain in Lebanon, the statement said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry and the embassy officials are working on measures to evacuate the rest Chinese citizens in case of emergency.

Israel has intensified its air raids on Lebanese targets since launching a massive assault on July 12 when Lebanon's Hezbollah guerillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in cross-border attacks.

The Chinese government has been highly concerned about the safety of Chinese citizens in Lebanon.

Closely following the development, the Chinese Foreign Ministry launched the emergency response mechanism last week.

The ministry also issued two advisories warning Chinese citizens against traveling to Lebanon.

Since last Friday, the Chinese embassy in Lebanon has started to evacuated Chinese citizens .

Before the evacuation, Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei talked via telephone with ambassadors from related countries, informing them of the Chinese government's decision to evacuate the citizens and seeking cooperation from their countries to safeguard the security of Chinese nationals.

Thanks to the coordinating efforts with the Syrian border departments, the Chinese Embassy in Syria helped the Chinese evacuees' resettle in the country.

The Chinese Embassy in Israel also launched its emergency response mechanism and issued an advisory warning Chinese citizens against traveling to the raid-plagued region.

The Chinese Embassy in Israel even facilitated Chinese citizens to leave the raid-torn north region of Israel.

Governments around the world have been scrambling to evacuate their nationals from Lebanon as the intense Israeli offensive in the country entered its seventh day on Tuesday in the worst fighting across the border in more than two decades.

In April and May this year, China evacuated some 243 and 325 Chinese nationals, including Hong Kong compatriots, respectively from the unrest-hit Solomon Islands and East Timor.

(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2006)