State Department: More than 1,000 Americans and family members have departed Lebanon on US government flights

 State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday that more than 1,000 American citizens,

legal permanent residents and family members have left Lebanon on flights arranged by the U.S. government.   Miller said the U.S. government arranged 10 flights out of the country, which faces increased Israeli military operations. Each of those flights had a capacity of 300 passengers. So far, none are operating at full capacity. Miller said the U.S. government  also worked with Middle East Airlines to block  more than 900 seats on its flights for Americans wanting to leave the country. Miller said the U.S. will continue to operate flights as long as there is demand from U.S. citizens and a lack of commercial airline capacity. "If at some point we determine that the demand is not sufficient and that the existing demand  can be met by commercial airlines, we will consider going back to  commercial airlines only. We don't think we're at that point yet," Miller said. He said 8,800 people have been in contact with the U.S. State Department seeking information on leaving Lebanon, but not all of them are seeking help leaving Lebanon.