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As the conflict between Israel and governmental and militant Lebanese Islamic group Hezbollah heats up, UCLA students traveling and studying in the region have experienced the violence and uncertainty of the past week firsthand.

Violence between Israel and Hezbollah, a terrorist organization based out of Lebanon, soared last Wednesday when Hezbollah entered Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers. Casualties on both sides have been piling up ever since.

Hezbollah has sent missiles into northern Israel, while Israel has been bombing areas of Lebanon that have strategic importance to Hezbollah, such as bridges and the group’s headquarters.

Both parties involved in the conflict have used strong language to condemn the actions of the others, making a cease-fire seem like a distant possibility.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, declared “open war” against Israel on Friday and Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Israel “intend(s) to break this organization.”

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said there will be “far-reaching consequences” for Hezbollah’s attack on Haifa, an Israeli port city in the north that has been the target of bombings for the past several days.

Nasrallah said his guerrillas have “complete strength and power” despite Israel’s five-day bombardment.

Samer Araabi, a fourth-year business economics and political science student, is studying at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, and has found himself in the middle of the conflict.

“Southern Beirut ... is just a few miles from campus, and you can feel every bomb they drop. It shakes the whole building, and when it’s real close it looks like the windows are about to pop,” Araabi wrote in an e-mail Saturday. “On a clear day, you can see smoke from the airport, and at night we watch rockets fly overhead.”

The violence had killed more than 150 in Lebanon and 30 in Israel as of Sunday.

Despite the school’s close proximity to the conflict, Araabi does not know if American University will close anytime soon, though other universities have. As of Saturday, he was still taking classes.

“My classes are going on as scheduled for now, but who knows what they’ll decide on Monday. Nothing here is really certain anymore,” Araabi wrote.

Outside of the university, the disruption caused by the conflict is even more apparent.

“It’s been really disconcerting, and everyone here is really on edge. Especially out in town, everyone is hiding away so the streets are abandoned and dark,” he wrote.

Trevor Klitofsky, a second-year political science student, has seen the other side of the conflict. Klitofsky traveled to Israel on a planned trip put on by his fraternity, and stayed an extra week traveling throughout the country.

About four or five days before Hezbollah started bombing, Klitofsky was in the north in the spot where Israelis were killed.

“I was right near Tiberius, where bombs fell, which is kind of scary,” he said in a telephone interview Saturday.

He is currently just outside of Tel Aviv, but that area is no longer safe from Hezbollah bombs.

Most houses in Israel have safe rooms that are reinforced because of experience with previous bombings, he said.

The government announced that Hezbollah bombs are able to hit Tel Aviv, so people are not sure what to expect in the next couple days, he said.

“People are a little bit down but they have to go about their daily lives,” he said. “They’re used to this uncertainty.”

And while Klitofsky is leaving Israel on Tuesday, Araabi’s exit from Lebanon is much less certain.

U.S. security teams arrived in Lebanon on Sunday to start planning the evacuation of American citizens in the country.

“I registered my travel with the embassy once the fighting started. Since then, they’ve been e-mailing me with periodic updates,” Araabi wrote.

He said he does not want to leave, but the evacuation might be the only way out anytime soon, as the Beirut airport was hit with missiles on Wednesday.

Araabi wrote that the Lebanese are used to such attacks from Israel, but not to this extent.

With reports from Bruin wire services.