The tit-for-tat hostilities that followed U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 have resulted in thousands of deaths across the Middle East, according to a range of local, national and international sources. The strike campaign and subsequent Iranian responses have included attacks on Israel, U.S. bases, Gulf states and a new front in Lebanon.
Overview
Various organisations and authorities have released fatality counts for different countries and territories affected by the fighting. Those figures differ by source and in some cases include caveats about coverage or scope. Reuters has not independently verified the death tolls reported below.
Iran
U.S.-based rights group HRANA reported that 3,527 people have been killed since the conflict began. HRANA says 1,606 of those fatalities were civilians, and that its civilian count includes at least 244 children. The group attributes its totals to field reports, local contacts, medical and emergency sources, civil society networks, open-source materials and official statements.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, on Friday, gave a separate count for Iran: at least 1,900 people killed and 20,000 injured in the strikes attributed to the U.S. and Israel so far. The Red Cross federation noted those figures but did not make clear whether they include at least 104 people whom the Iranian military said were killed in a U.S. attack on an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka on March 4.
Lebanon
Lebanese authorities reported 1,345 people killed in Israeli strikes since March 2, including at least 124 children. Separately, two sources familiar with Hezbollahs internal count told Reuters that the group has lost more than 400 fighters since it opened a new front with Israel on March 2. It is not clear whether the Lebanese authorities casualty total includes those fighters.
At least nine soldiers from the Lebanese army have been killed in Israeli strikes since March 2, with most of the military casualties occurring in southern Lebanon, the army said. Additionally, three United Nations peacekeepers from Indonesia were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon - one resulting from a roadside explosion and another involving a projectile.
Iraq
Iraqi health authorities reported at least 108 people killed since the start of the crisis. That toll encompasses a range of victims, including civilians, members of the Iran-affiliated Shiite Popular Mobilisation Forces, U.S.-allied Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, and Iraqi police and army personnel. Port security officials also reported that one foreign crew member was killed in an attack on tankers near an Iraqi port.
Israel
Israels ambulance service said missiles launched from Iran and Lebanon toward Israel have killed 19 people. The Israeli military separately reported that 10 of its soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon. In another incident on March 22, Israeli forces misfired and accidentally killed an Israeli farmer near the Lebanon border.
United States
Thirteen U.S. service members have been reported killed in the campaign. Six service members were confirmed dead after a U.S. military refuelling aircraft crashed over Iraq, the U.S. military said. Seven additional U.S. service members have been killed in action during operations against Iran. A U.S. official told Reuters that twelve U.S. troops were wounded - two of them seriously - in an Iranian military strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
United Arab Emirates
UAE authorities said eleven people have been killed in Iranian attacks, including two army soldiers.
Qatar
On March 22 a helicopter crash in Qatars territorial waters killed seven people, the Qatari defence ministry said, attributing the crash to a technical malfunction during "routine duty." The ministry provided no further details. Of the seven killed, four were Qatari armed forces personnel, one was a Turkish serviceman assigned to the Qatar-Turkey joint forces, and two were technicians employed by Turkeys defence manufacturer Aselsan.
Kuwait
Kuwaiti authorities reported seven deaths in the crisis, including three people killed in Iranian attacks, two interior ministry officers and two army soldiers.
West Bank
Four Palestinian women were killed in an Iranian missile attack in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to the reporting.
Syria
State news agency SANA reported that four people were killed when an Iranian missile struck a building in the southern city of Sweida on February 28.
Bahrain
Bahrains interior ministry said two people were killed in two separate Iranian attacks, the most recent of which struck a residential building in the capital, Manama. The UAEs defence ministry said on March 24 that one of its civilian contractors was killed in an Iranian attack on Bahrain; the contractor was identified as a Moroccan national.
Oman
Two people were reported killed on March 13 when a drone strike struck an industrial zone in Sohar province, marking the first reported fatalities inside Oman amid the crisis. Oman had been hosting mediation talks between the U.S. and Iran. Separately, a projectile struck a tanker off the coast of Muscat earlier in the crisis, and the tanker's manager said one person died as a result.
Saudi Arabia
Authorities in Saudi Arabia said two people were killed when a projectile fell on a residential location in Al-Kharj city, southeast of the capital Riyadh.
France
A French soldier was killed and six others wounded following a drone attack in northern Iraq, where French forces were providing counter-terrorism training.
Notes on reporting and verification
The casualty counts above derive from a mix of rights groups, national governments, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, military statements and other reporting channels. Several of those sources have provided caveats or acknowledged uncertainties in their tallies, and at least one international organisation did not clarify whether a specific maritime strike was included in its total for Iran.