Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA
Almost 2 thousand dead, including more than 200 children. Multiple iMilitary, energy, civil and historic installations were hit.
Air strikes destroy military and energy infrastructure, but also damage civilian buildings and cultural heritage. Since the start of the war, thousands of sites have been destroyed in the country.
The month of air offensive against Iran has left ruins across the country, especially in military infrastructure. According to press reports, missile factories, fuel facilities and several launch positions were particularly hard hit.
But civil buildings and historic sites, such as the Golestan Palace, also suffered impacts, as reported on the 26th.
Hundreds of people died in the attacks. Tens of thousands were injured.
Military installations hit
According to information from the North American newspaper The Washington Post, in the first four weeks of the war, four production plants and at least 29 missile launch bases were reached.
Damage mainly affects solid and liquid fuel factoriesused to produce and launch short and medium range missiles. The Institute for the Study of War documented attacks on more than 20 missile bases during the conflict.
Satellite images show that dozens of buildings were destroyed at the Khojir, Parchin, Hakimiyeh and Shahroud military complexes, according to the Washington Post. Many accesses to tunnels used to store weapons underground were also buried or damaged.
The United States Army recently released its own report: more than two-thirds of Iranian missile and drone production facilities had been hit by March 26. Most of the shipyards will also have been damaged.
Over the course of almost four weeks of war, US forces will have reached more than 10 thousand military targetssaid the commander of the US Central Command (Centcom), Admiral Brad Cooper, in a video published on the X platform.
The affected energy facilities
Central energy facilities in Iran were also targeted by air strikes, according to press reports. The South Pars gas field was particularly affected.
The largest gas field ever discovered in the world, located in the Persian Gulf, South Pars is jointly explored by Iran and Qatar. The region is vital for the Iranian energy sector and represents around 70% of domestic gas supplies.
The affected civil installations
According to the Iranian Red Crescent, more than 100,000 civilian buildings were damaged or destroyed, many due to falling debris resulting from the explosions. In the capital, Tehran alone, almost 40 thousand homes and commercial establishments were affected, the organization reported on X.
Over the past four weeks, around 600 schools and almost 300 health centers were also damaged. This information could not be independently verified by DW. On March 17, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that six hospitals had been evacuated and 18 affected.
The Iranian Ministry of Health reported, according to the German news agency dpa, that since the beginning of the war more than 1,900 people died, including 240 women and more than 200 children. In the same period, more than 24,800 people were injured, according to a March 26 statement. The WHO had estimated, in mid-March, around 1,300 deaths in Iran.
Damaged historic buildings
Dozens of historic sites — palaces, mosques and prehistoric sites — were also damaged in the bombings. Among them are cultural centers listed as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. The most serious damage occurred to the century-old Golestan Palace and Chehel Sotoun Palace, as well as the Jameh Mosque, dating from the 8th century.
Across the country, the government recorded damage to 131 historic buildingsaccording to a statement released this Monday. Tehran province is the most affected, with 61 cases, followed by Isfahan, with 23 structures damaged.
Shortly after the start of the war, the Iranian government requested protection for cultural facilities. UNESCO claimed to have sent “the geographical coordinates of World Heritage sites and other important cultural monuments to all parties involved, to avoid possible damage”, which did not prevent side effects.
