(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/130121-syria-russia-923a.photoblog600.jpg)Jamal Saidi / ReutersLebanese soldiers escort Russian nationals traveling across the border in a convoy from Damascus on Tuesday. By Bassem Mroue and Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated PressFour buses carrying Russian citizens escaping the Syrian civil war crossed into Lebanon on Tuesday, in the first evacuation organized by Moscow since the start of the conflict nearly two years ago.
About 80 people, mostly women and children, were on the buses, according to an official from the Russian Embassy in Beirut who was waiting for the group at the Masnaa border crossing in eastern Lebanon. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
The evacuation was the strongest sign yet of Russia's doubts in the ability of President Bashar Assad's regime to cling to power in Syria.
Russian officials said Monday that about 100 of their citizens in Syria would be taken out overland to Lebanon and flown home from there, presumably because of renewed fighting near Damascus airport.
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