BEIRUT, Lebanon — They endured a summer of war, but now relief is coming for Lebanon's little known victims — cats and dogs abandoned when their owners fled the country during the early days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Some 300 of the former pets are being flown to the United States today for adoption.

For Mona Khoury, who has helped take care of the animals the past few weeks, the rescue operation is tinged with sadness.

"I've grown attached to them and I'm very, very sad that they're leaving. But I know they'll be in good hands and have a better life there," she said.

Khoury is co-founder of Beirut for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which is working on the project with the American animal society Best Friends.

BETA rounded up many of the pets left behind when tens of thousands of foreigners and Lebanese with foreign passports evacuated the country in July and August.

The U.S. Embassy and others told the evacuees that pets would not be allowed on the ships and helicopters carrying them to safety, and many families had to abandon their animals or leave them with friends who later got rid of them.

Michael Mountain, president of the Utah-based Best Friends, which describes itself as America's largest refuge for abused and abandoned pets, said in a phone interview that about 300 of the homeless pets would be put on a special cargo plane today and flown to the United States

"This is certainly the largest animal airlift operation we've ever done overseas," he said.

The animals will be flown to Las Vegas, where they will be put on trucks for a 3½-hour ride to temporary housing at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah.