CYPRUS — U.S. Air Force C-17s are helping to evacuate the growing number of Americans in Lebanon who want to evacuate the country and return to the United States.

Lt. Col. Angela Billings said a U.S. C-17 with 101 evacuees flew from Cyprus to Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Saturday afternoon before flying to McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. Billings is a spokeswoman for U.S. Air Forces in Europe headquarters.

More Air Force planes are expected to help transport the thousands of Americans who want to leave the fighting in Lebanon. U.S. government officials said as many as 17,000 Americans may be evacuated from the country. That’s more than some officials had anticipated.

The first Air Force flight landed at Ramstein around 1:30 p.m., said Capt. Erin Dorrance, an Air Force spokeswoman at the base. The plane stayed on the ground for about two hours as the base provided medical care, a home-cooked meal, telephone service and chaplain services, Dorrance said. Two more flights were scheduled to arrive from Cyprus and land at Ramstein before heading to the United States.

Many were relieved to be just a flight across the Atlantic Ocean away from returning to the U.S.

“They were just so happy to be in Germany on their way home,” Dorrance said.

U.S. military public affairs personnel were allowed to cover the arrival of the evacuees, but the State Department banned “external media,” including Stars and Stripes, from coming on base and talking to the evacuees or photographing them.

“The Department of State has issued a passive media posture to better assist these American citizens as they transit from a volatile situation into a safe haven,” according to a USAFE statement. “We are very cognizant of their difficult situation and we are attempting to make their stay at Ramstein as comfortable, calm and orderly as possible.”