Tracking deaths in Iran, wider Middle East as conflict rages on

Just days after U.S. and Israeli strikes targeting Iran, more than 1,000 people have been killed, mainly in Iran, with the remaining deaths scattered across neighbouring countries in the Middle East as the conflict escalates.

On Saturday, U.S.-Israeli strikes hit Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and triggering retaliatory Iranian strikes on Israel and Persian Gulf states that host U.S. military bases and personnel.

As the the U.S. and Israel press on with strikes on Iran, a number of countries have reported deaths as a result of the widening conflict.

Here are the reported death tolls from the war, mostly from local authorities, as well as an activist group. CBC News has not been able to independently verify these deaths.

Over 1,000 killed across Iran

Since Saturday, at least 1,097 civilians have been killed in Iran, according to data from the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a non-governmental organization made up of human rights advocates.

Of them, the agency says at least 181 were children. It says it is reviewing nearly 900 additional reported deaths.

HRANA has been accurate in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest in Iran — including mass protest deaths earlier this year — and relies on a network of activists in the country to verify deaths. The agency is crosschecking information slowly as it comes; communication remains difficult with those inside Iran.

Some 5,402 civilians have been injured since the onset of the attacks, including 100 children, according to the data.

The agency says it has confirmed the deaths of 12 military personnel in Iran. 

At least 50 killed in Lebanon

Fighting between Israel and Lebanon broke out on Monday. The Iran-aligned militant group launched rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel in retaliation for other regional strikes.

In response to Hezbollah’s cross-border attacks, Israel launched airstrikes and expanded military operations into southern Lebanon, marking a significant escalation of hostilities that have since killed at least 50 people and wounded hundreds, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. It has also left tens of thousands of Lebanese residents displaced after Israel issued evacuation warnings in dozens of villages. It’s unclear how many civilians and militants were killed.

At least 10 civilians were killed in Israel, according to the country’s ambulance service, Magen David Adom. The Israel Defence Forces has reported no military casualties.

Deaths across the region

Elsewhere in the region, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry reported one person killed after fire broke out in Salman Industrial City following missile interception.

In Kuwait, three people, including two Kuwaiti soldiers, were killed in Iranian attacks on the country, according to the country’s health and foreign ministries. The U.S. also confirmed Monday a total of six American soldiers were killed in the Iranian strike on a Kuwaiti military facility, according to the U.S. Central Command.

In the United Arab Emirates, three people were reportedly killed, according to the country’s defence ministry.

Iraqi officials said that a drone strike hit the Kataib Hezbollah headquarters, killing two people in Iraq.

In a sign of the conflict’s expansion, a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka, killing at least 87 people, with dozens remaining unaccounted for, according to Sri Lankan authorities.

U.S. Central Command said in a statement it had “struck or sunk to the bottom of the ocean” more than 20 Iranian ships, but it didn’t publish a death toll.

Earlier this week, Oman’s state news agency said an oil tanker flagged to the Republic of the Marshall Islands was attacked by an “unmanned surface vessel,” killing a crew member.