American college students hole up in Beirut

Nucho said so far she has heard nothing from officials at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, which is about 20 miles from her dorm.

Administrators at the American University of Beirut also are telling its students they are safest where they are. The school is not affiliated with American University in Washington, D.C.

‘Never been bombed’
“(The school) has never been bombed, even during the civil war,” university spokeswoman Ada H. Porter said from New York. “Even during the civil war, all factions respected our borders. We have always had a major hospital that treated everybody, and it has never been closed.”

She said that the area of Beirut where the school is located is not currently being bombed, and the school has electricity and running water.

“Obviously, the current situation in Lebanon is of great concern to all members of the AUB community,” Provost Peter Heath write in a message to students and faculty on Thursday. “I met with international students, including those attending the CAMES summer Arabic program, to advise them to stay on or very close to campus.”

A full-scale evacuation would be a complex undertaking, but State Department officials told NBC News on Friday that the U.S. military would be up to the task. 

A senior Pentagon official told NBC’s Scott Foster that the Defense Department is "watching the situation closely" in Lebanon and that it is prepared to provide any assistance that might be needed if a decision is made to evacuate U.S. citizens in the region. 

Pentagon developing contingency plans
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Pentagon is working on a number of contingency plans, ranging from the removal of a "small handful of people" to more robust missions to evacuate much larger numbers.

The official noted that there has not yet been any specific request from the State Department to evacuate U.S. citizens.

But that's exactly what Nucho was requesting during her phone call with MSNBC.com — a way out of Beirut.

"Please don't forget about us. I won't be sleeping tonight," she said in an e-mail after the telephone line went dead. "Please try to keep in touch. Please try to help. I'm so afraid."

Americans can call 1-888-407-4747, within the U.S., for updates on travel in Lebanon or 202-501-4444 outside of the U.S. The State Department has not set up a number for people to check on the welfare and whereabouts of loved ones, as no casualties have been reported.

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