Tehran/Jerusalem/Beirut, Mar 3 (EFE).- The death toll from the escalating conflict between US-Israel and Iran, now drawing in Lebanon, surged dramatically on Tuesday as cross-border bombardments intensify.
Iranian authorities say nearly 800 people have been killed in attacks since Feb. 28, while Israel and Lebanon also report casualties amid a widening regional war that shows no sign of abating.
Iran Death Toll Rises Sharply
Iran’s Red Crescent said Tuesday that at least 787 people have died in Israeli and U.S. attacks, a sharp increase from the 555 fatalities reported a day earlier.
The organization said 232 additional deaths were recorded in recent hours.
The Washington-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported slightly different figures, saying at least 742 civilians have been killed, including 176 minors.
According to HRANA, 971 civilians have been injured, among them 115 children, while another 624 reported deaths remain under review.
The figures remain provisional due to restricted access, widespread internet outages, and difficulties in independently verifying information on the ground.
Israeli Strikes Hit Tehran Power Centers
The Israeli military said it carried out overnight airstrikes on a major government complex in central Tehran, dropping “dozens of munitions” on the presidential office, the headquarters of the Supreme National Security Council and an officer training institute.
The sites lie just hundreds of meters from the compound where Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed Saturday along with close family members and other senior officials in a joint US-Israeli operation.
Israel says it has struck approximately 600 targets across Iran in recent days, with more than half of the attacks concentrated in Tehran province.
Other areas hit include Kurdistan province in the west and Hormozgan province in the south, home to the strategic port of Bandar Abbas along the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian authorities say at least 180 people were killed in a single strike on a school.
In Israel, emergency services report 10 deaths from Iranian missile fire, one in Tel Aviv and nine in the central city of Beit Shemesh.
Khamenei’s Death and Political Transition
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei said Khamenei, 86, who was killed in the opening wave of strikes, had made a “conscious choice” to remain at his workplace in Tehran despite knowing an attack was imminent.
“It was not a failure to comply with security protocols,” Baghaei said, describing the decision as a sacrifice for the country.
Iran has declared 40 days of official mourning. A transitional leadership council composed of President Masud Pezeshkian, Judiciary chief Gholamhosein Mohseni Ejei and senior cleric Alireza Arafi has assumed temporary authority.
Khamenei had led the Islamic Republic since 1989.
Diplomatic Police Targeted, Tehran Says
Baghaei also accused Israel and the United States of striking the headquarters of Iran’s diplomatic police in Tehran, alleging the move was intended to leave Iranian embassies abroad vulnerable.
He warned that further “false flag operations” could target diplomatic facilities in the region to justify expanding the conflict.
He again denied that Iran had rejected negotiation proposals, insisting that nuclear disarmament was never part of current discussions.
Washington and Jerusalem have offered varying justifications for the launch of “Operation Epic Fury,” the US-Israeli offensive that began early Saturday. Tehran has rejected those explanations as unfounded.
Lebanon Front Erupts
The conflict has also intensified in Lebanon, where Israel has expanded air and ground operations against the Iran-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah.
Israeli warplanes struck the offices of Hezbollah’s Al Nour radio station in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Tuesday, a day after hitting its Al Manar television channel in the same area. Hezbollah condemned the attacks as attempts to silence its media platforms.
Israel says it has hit more than 160 Hezbollah targets and deepened its land operations in southern Lebanon. Lebanese authorities report at least 31 deaths from a wave of Israeli strikes in Beirut’s outskirts and southern regions.
Mass Evacuations in Southern Lebanon
The Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesman issued evacuation orders for 83 villages in southern Lebanon, urging residents to move at least 1,000 meters away from areas allegedly linked to Hezbollah infrastructure.
The villages are mainly in the Nabatieh and South governorates, including districts such as Bint Jbeil, Marjayoun, Tyre and Nabatieh.
Israel described the troop buildup along the border as a defensive measure to prevent further Hezbollah attacks.
Regional Fallout
The United States says four of its military personnel have been killed and five injured in Iranian retaliatory strikes. Hezbollah has launched drones at Israeli military positions, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claims to have destroyed a U.S. military headquarters in Bahrain.
With hundreds dead in Iran, dozens killed in Lebanon and mounting casualties in Israel and among U.S. forces, the conflict has rapidly evolved into one of the most dangerous regional confrontations in years, raising fears of a broader Middle East war. EFE
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