An Middle East Airlines flight arrived from Abidjan at Beirut airport at dawn on Friday with 244 Lebanese expatriates onboard, reported the National News Agency on Friday.

Another flight from Iran’s Mahan Air also arrived from Abidjan with 195 passengers and six children onboard.

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry delegation, headed by foreign ministry director general Haitham Joumaa, began on Saturday evacuating Lebanese expatriates in the Ivory Coast from Abidjan airport to the airport in Ghana’s capital Accra.

Joumaa informed the National News Agency in a telephone call from Abidjan airport that a Boeing 737 has been rented to transport 200 passengers to Accra over a two-phase operation.

The Higher Defense Council is scheduled to hold an extraordinary meeting at Baabda palace under President Michel Suleiman at 1:30 pm Tuesday to discuss ways at finding a safe exit for Lebanese expatriates in violence-torn Ivory Coast.

The meeting is rare since it comes at a time of a political vacuum and in the absence of a Lebanese government.

A Middle East Airlines plane that was scheduled to evacuate Lebanese from conflict-torn Ivory Coast on Saturday morning was delayed again to guarantee the flight’s safety, Voice of Lebanon radio station reported Saturday.

The MEA flight will now leave on Saturday night rather than 8:00 am, it said after authorities in the African country opened air traffic.

Lebanese expatriates in strife-torn Ivory Coast feared for their lives on Friday after reports of heavy fighting near strongman Laurent Gbagbo's residence and presidential palace in Abidjan where there are 20,000 Lebanese.

Gunmen have looted the shops and businesses belonging to Lebanese in several cities, Beirut media reported. But Ambassador Ali Ajami confirmed to Caretaker Foreign Minister Ali al-Shami that the more than 50,000 Lebanese in the African country were so far safe.

The foreign ministry is monitoring the evacuation process of Lebanese from Libya, announcing that 21 citizens and five Palestinians have returned to Lebanon onboard a Middle East Airlines plane arriving from Istanbul, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat Monday.

It said in a statement on Sunday that the Lebanese and other nationalities are being evacuated from Libya by ship and are being sent to ports in Turkey, Syria, and Egypt.

Middle East Airlines announced on Thursday that it has prepared one of its planes to head to Libya on Friday once it receives permission from Libyan authorities to evacuate Lebanese citizens from the country.

The Lebanese foreign ministry is conducting the necessary contacts with friendly nations and the Lebanese mission in Libya in order to evacuate the citizens who have been trapped in Libya after the eruption of anti-regime protests.

Cabinet again failed to approve the 2010 state budget and decided to continue debate on the issue in a session to be at Baabda Palace on Monday.

Information Minister Tareq Mitri told reporters that Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi briefed Cabinet on the agreement reached between Middle East Airlines and the Pilots Union.