A mother stands by the rubble, crying out for her daughter. For days she has been waiting for rescue workers to dig through the flattened remains of what was once her daughter's flat in Resalat, a residential district in eastern Tehran. 'They don't have the manpower to get her out,' the woman says. 'My daughter is under the rubble... she's afraid of the dark.' For a month, Iran has been at war with the US and Israel, which have been carrying out strikes across the country at targets linked to the regime. But these attacks are also having a devastating impact on civilians living nearby. They are now being caught between bombardment from the skies and a repressive regime that responded to anti-establishment protests with a deadly crackdown in January. Since the start of the war, BBC Eye has gathered exclusive footage from independent journalists inside Tehran. The BBC is rarely allowed into Iran and has not been given access since the war began. We've gathered eyewitness testimony, filmed the aftermath of strikes and analysed footage from social media and satellite imagery. Our analysis shows there has been a series of attacks on state-linked targets that are embedded in civilian neighbourhoods in Tehran, with deadly consequences for those living around them. Dozens of families had lived in the multi-storey apartment building in Resalat before it was destroyed by an Israeli air strike on 9 March. The daughter trapped in the rubble had been living in the complex with her husband and own young daughter. Days after the strike, she and her daughter were found dead under the rubble. The husband survived.
Despair and Devastation: The Civilian Toll of Air Strikes in Tehran
Despair and Devastation: The Civilian Toll of Air Strikes in Tehran
As the conflict in Iran escalates, civilian casualties rise dramatically, with heartbreaking accounts from those trapped in the rubble.
In Tehran's Resalat district, families are left devastated by air strikes that have reduced residential buildings to rubble. Eyewitness accounts reveal a profound sense of loss and fear, as rescue efforts struggle to keep up with the aftermath of the attacks. Amid ongoing warfare between Iran, the US, and Israel, civilians bear the brunt of a conflict that blurs the lines between military targets and urban life. Local authorities report significant civilian casualties, raising concerns over the use of powerful bombs in densely populated areas. The humanitarian crisis deepens as families are displaced and left without a clear response from the government.
