At some point, I'd probably give up on the red tape and head for Latakia. These ships in port are sitting ducks. I had visions of the Marines rescuing people out in air-effect landing craft, and I'll bet many Americans in Beirut did also.
Yeah. Soft targets are very attractive to these lumbagoes. When I was travelling abroad I never even thought of the possibility that the US Gummint would try to get American civilians out of a tense situation unless the civilians could make it to the embassy.