MOSCOW - Two planes left Moscow for Beirut, capital of Lebanon, Tuesday to pick up Russian nationals who wish to leave Syria, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

A Yak-42 plane hopped off from the Domodedovo airport at noon (0800 GMT) while an Il-76 left a few minutes later from the Ramenskoye airport, both in Moscow region, the ministry's information department told the Interfax news agency.

The planes would take back some 100 Russian nationals "who wish to leave Syria", the department said, stressing "this is not an evacuation".