At least 200 civilians have been killed since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran last weekend, according to rights groups, as people inside Iran told the Guardian they were fearful of a rising death toll.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society said that at least 555 people had been killed across Iran. However, in its latest update, the Norway-based human rights group Hengaw said the death toll on day three had reached at least 1,500, including 200 civilians and 1,300 members of the Iranian forces.
Hengaw said it was concerned about the rising number of civilian deaths, with the highest number of civilian fatalities recorded in Hormozgan province in southern Iran, after a missile strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab at the weekend, which reportedly killed more than 150 people, including children.
Amid an ongoing barrage of joint US-Israeli strikes across several cities in Iran, residents who spoke to the Guardian said they had received a wave of alerts and messages from authorities on their mobile phones.
According to Hengaw, people in the city of Sanandaj, capital of Iranian Kurdistan in the north-west of Iran, received messages from the intelligence organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warning that any public movement or presence in the streets would be deemed a “direct cooperation with the enemy”.
The message stated this was intended to avert “terrorist actions and street unrest”, described as the next steps in the “enemy’s plan”.
Some residents interviewed by the Guardian said people in other cities had also received the text messages from the authorities. IranWire, an Iranian news media in exile also reported similar texts warning recipients against “any movement”.
A student based in Tehran said: “The regime has shut down the internet again and now we are all trying to connect with each other and see what we can do to help weaken this regime and avenge our compatriots. Tehran is being bombed so heavily, it’s impossible to know when, where and how we can protest and mobilise because the streets are quickly turning dangerous. We don’t know where the IRGC hideouts are and that’s a huge risk for us ordinary people.”
In a message relayed to the Guardian via a relative based abroad, a Kurdish student said: “With the alerts and warnings coming in, even if we planned to flee [from the bombing], the regime’s agents will arrest us and slap terror charges. The whole point of these alerts is to ensure we are trapped so they can blame Trump and co and weaponise the attacks in the neighbourhoods adjacent to IRGC bases. We know this regime all too well and its tactics haven’t changed.”
Despite a near-total internet blackout, some people had managed to make calls to relatives abroad and send a few text messages. Civilians who managed to connect with human rights groups also said that in the north-western city of Mahabad, electricity had been completely cut off on Monday after US-Israeli airstrikes.
In the north-western city of Urmia, a prisoner called a family member to say that everything was under control in the prison and that no one had been executed in the ward on Monday. The windows had been taped to reduce the sound of nearby explosions.
Hiwa Bahrami, head of the department of foreign relations of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, said the regime had “deliberately established military bases and deployed its forces within populated regions, putting civilians at significant risk” in many areas, including Iranian Kurdistan.
Meanwhile, civilians in Tehran said they were striving to flee to smaller cities as US-Israeli strikes intensify. Matin, a former journalist based in Tehran, said that although people had hoped for US help, clouds of smoke over the city’s skyline, continuous loud explosions and videos showing rubble in the heart of the capital had left him fearful.
“Look, we want freedom and we want the IRGC to pay for every single drop of blood our families have sacrificed for this fight. But since this morning, the videos I have been seeing, which are already few because I am only able to connect from time to time, are breaking my heart … who will bring back those among us who die at the hands of the incoming bombs?
“I blame the regime for bringing us here, but that doesn’t mean I am not scared the US attacks will kill the innocent. To also see my beloved city in this state is not something I can celebrate. I am really worried for the children of this country.”
Zhila, a film-maker based in Tehran, said: “Our young don’t have a future in this country, the sanctions and every other restriction which has crippled the economy is the regime’s doing because they kept getting rich. Despite this, I still hoped we could have brought this regime down.
“We tried it all, so even if I am against this war, I do not believe we have an option but to seek help. How many die is something that’s killing me inside, but also how many were killed by the regime is still fresh on our minds. We have become so numb after what we saw in January that now we are in a strange state of mind.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
