U.S. girls reunited with parents in Georgia

TBILISI (Reuters) - Two American girls trapped behind Russian lines by the conflict in Georgia were reunited with their parents on Thursday after the French ambassador brought them back from the Russian zone, the U.S. embassy said.

The girls, aged seven and three and from New Jersey, had traveled to Georgia with their American father and Georgian-American mother, who left them to stay for two weeks with the children's grandparents in the town of Chiatura before the fighting started on August 7-8, an embassy spokesman said.

They were trapped behind Russian lines after Russian troops crossed into Georgia and were "rescued" thanks to French ambassador to Georgia Eric Fournier, he said.

"The French ambassador drove across today and brought them back," the spokesman said. "They are now with their parents."

The spokesman was not immediately able to provide the names of the children or their parents.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, editing by Tim Pearce)