Esseily and her husband, Tony, have three children: a 10-month-old, an 11-year-old and a 12-year-old. They and 1,000 other American evacuees from Beirut arrived in Cyprus aboard the Navy transport ship USS Nashville early Friday.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was calling up to 6,000 troops for reinforcements along the border as leaflets were dropped urging Lebanese residents to leave their homes and move north of the Litani River 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the Israeli border.

We ask questions that might seem extraordinary if our families at home knew we were pondering them. Should we put CNN on top of the car? Does that make us less of a target — or more of one?