Six days after Israel and the United States started the current war against Iran, on Saturday, February 28, the conflict has now spread to the Gulf countries and Lebanon. Yet, at this stage, the human death toll appears to be vastly different on each side of the war. While the conflict has spread to affect the entire region, the countries directly or indirectly involved in it have not suffered in the same way. Despite facing several hundred missiles and drones launched by Iran, Israel and the Gulf states have suffered relatively few fatalities. The death toll has been much higher in Iran and Lebanon, which have come under continuous fire and bombardment.

• The Iranian death toll is uncertain

The Islamic Republic of Iran has yet to release any official casualty figures. The Iranian Red Crescent has cited a provisional death toll of 1,250, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Reuters. The real figure could nevertheless be significantly higher if military personnel, whom the strikes have directly targeted, were included. The US and Israel have carried out several waves of airstrikes and missile launches from warships, with, for example, the Israeli army having fired more than 6,000 units of munitions in bombings on Thursday evening. A strike conducted on the first day of the war killed 175 people, many of them children, in Minab, southern Iran. According to The New York Times, the strike was likely carried out by the US military and targeted a nearby Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps facility. A US submarine also sank an Iranian destroyer off the coast of Sri Lanka, resulting in dozens of sailors’ deaths.

You have 60.18% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.