Iran and the Middle East: INEW warns of escalating harm as civilian casualties reported across region
9 March 2026
The International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW) calls on states and parties to the current hostilities to cease the use of heavy explosive weapons in populated areas, following reports that hundreds of civilians have been killed or injured from explosive violence since 28 February across several states.
Analysts monitoring the conflict report that Israeli aircraft dropped more than 2,000 bombs in the first 30 hours. The United States said on Friday 6 March that it had hit over 3,000 targets so far, and Iran has launched hundreds of missiles and drones in retaliation. In Lebanon, hundreds of thousands are displaced and hundreds killed or injured after intense bombardment in populated areas. The intense use of explosive weapons has continued across the region.
In Iran alone, over 1,000 fatalities have been reported, including dozens of girls reportedly killed or injured when a primary school in Minab was struck during the school day. The destruction of the school – killing mostly children – illustrates the grave humanitarian consequences of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and disproportionate vulnerability of children to the impacts of blast.
Children are more vulnerable than adults, sustaining more severe injuries, lifelong disabilities, and profound developmental harm. Their smaller bodies and developing organs mean the same blast that an adult might survive is far more likely to kill a child or cause catastrophic trauma.
The use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, including rockets and air-delivered munitions, project blast and fragmentation across broad radii and are often inaccurate. In towns and cities, these effects cannot be limited to specific military targets. The use of these weapons also places homes, markets, schools, hospitals and essential infrastructure at predictable risk. The result is a recurring pattern of civilian death, injury, and destruction. Global data gathered from conflicts worldwide consistently show that when explosive weapons are used in populated areas, at least 90 percent of those killed and injured are civilians.
The harm does not end with the immediate blast. Damage to water systems, electricity networks, health facilities and housing undermines access to basic services and threatens long-term wellbeing. Survivors often face life changing injuries, psychological distress and economic hardship.
Many children and their families in the region have already endured years of violence, conflict and insecurity and are now being plunged back into fear, facing the risk of death, injury and displacement. In a region already marked by fragility and displacement, further damage to civilian infrastructure compounds existing vulnerabilities.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has warned that the situation is rapidly escalating across the region and affecting civilians and civilian infrastructure, and is calling for maximum restraint and a return to negotiations.
INEW urges all parties involved in the current hostilities to comply fully with international humanitarian law, and to stop bombing civilians. The principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution are not optional.
Parties must distinguish between civilians and combatants and refrain from attacks expected to cause disproportionate civilian harm, and they must take all feasible precautions to minimise incidental loss of civilian life and damage to civilian objects.
Parties to the conflict that have endorsed the 2022 Political Declaration on Protecting Civilians from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, notably the United States, should honor their political commitments and immediately restrict or refrain from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, when their use may be expected to cause harm to civilians or civilian objects. The Declaration reflects recognition of the grave risks that explosive weapons pose in towns and cities. Some states in the region, such as Jordan, have endorsed it. Other parties currently involved in the conflict, including Israel and Iran, have not endorsed the Declaration.
“The civilian harm we are seeing across the region reflects a well-documented pattern,” said Katherine Young of the Explosive Weapons Monitor. “When explosive weapons are used in populated areas, civilians make up the vast majority of those killed and injured. States that have committed to the Political Declaration on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas should take immediate steps to restrict or refrain from the use of these weapons in cities and towns.”
International Network on Explosive Weapons