More than 5,000 people have been killed in Iran and Lebanon since the Middle East conflict erupted six weeks ago, according to tolls compiled by local authorities in both countries.
Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB, citing the Forensic Medicine Organization, puts the Iranian death toll at 3,375 since US and Israeli strikes began in late February. Of those killed, 496 were women.
Lebanon’s health ministry reports at least 2,089 people killed since Israel launched attacks on what it describes as Hezbollah targets on March 2. Among the Lebanese dead are 166 children.
Wider regional toll
The combined figure does not include hundreds more reported dead across Iraq, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, the West Bank, Oman, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia since hostilities began on February 28. No consolidated regional death toll has been published by any international body.
Israel has continued strikes in Lebanon even after the Pakistan-brokered US-Iran ceasefire announced on April 8, arguing the Lebanon front is separate from the Iran track. The fragile truce has been further strained by the US naval blockade of Iranian ports activated on April 13.
The toll underscores the humanitarian cost of a conflict that has simultaneously triggered a global oil price surge past $100 per barrel and pushed Sri Lanka deeper into a fuel rationing crisis.
