As the US and Israel's war with Iran enters its third week, there are new reports that civilians have been killed in airstrikes.
Hengaw, an organization that covers human rights violations in Kurdistan and across all of Iran, said on March 15 that “five civilians, including two women and two children, were killed during the ongoing war.”
Overall, the organization says that 310 civilians have been killed in two weeks of war, while around 2,090 members of the Iranian military and security forces have been killed.
The report notes that “five civilians, including three Kurds, two women, and two children aged two and 15, were killed during airstrikes carried out by US and Israeli warplanes targeting Iranian military and security facilities in the cities of Tehran, Bukan, and Ravansar.”
Hengaw primarily covered human rights abuses by the Iranian regime, focusing on the Kurdish regions in western Iran. However, as the war has grown since February 28, the organization also covers the civilians who have been harmed in strikes.
Airstrikes by the US and Israel have been targeting sites of the Iranian regime, which has included regime officials, as well as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and also attacks on Iran’s military industries.
Israel believes to need more time to strike Iran's defense
In fact, recent reports indicate Israel believes it needs another several weeks to degrade Iran’s defense industries. In addition, many airstrikes have targeted Iranian regime sites in the Kurdistan region, including IRGC checkpoints.
Some airstrikes have harmed civilians. The worst killing of civilians in Iran came on the first day of the conflict when more than 150 children were killed at a girls’ primary school in Minab.
Hengaw describes the recent casualties it has identified: “According to information received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Soma Salimi, a Kurdish woman from Bukan, was killed during the bombing of Resalat Square in Tehran by US and Israeli warplanes, on Monday, March 9, 2026. Seven days after the incident, her body has still not been recovered from beneath the rubble of her home.”
She holds a bachelor’s degree in general psychology and a master’s degree in psychology of exceptional children. “She also worked as an instructor for children with autism at the Afarinesh Cultural Center,” the organization said.
In another incident, “two-year-old Abra Zherfi and his mother Faezeh Reyhani were killed during recent airstrikes by US and Israeli warplanes in the Moniriyeh district of Tehran,” the organization said.
“On Saturday, March 14, 2026, Kian Moradi, a 15-year-old Kurdish boy from Ravansar, died from injuries he had sustained during airstrikes conducted on March 1 targeting security and military centers of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the city. He died after 13 days of hospitalization due to the severity of his injuries,” it added.
The organization also identified a Kurdish civilian from Hajiabad village in Bukan, who was killed during the bombing of the Qarehmusalian military base on the Bukan–Miandoab road. It identified him as Qarni (Siavash) Sharifipour.
Many civilians are located near the sites used by the Iranian military, or work next to sites of Iranian defense industries. In recent conflicts in the region, high death tolls of civilians have become the norm.
It is believed more than 500 civilians have already been killed in Lebanon since March 2, when Hezbollah carried out a rocket attack on Israel that sparked a new round of conflict.
The UN said more than 815,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon. Reports indicate that up to 3 million people have also been displaced in Iran as a result of the conflict.
According to Hengaw, the Iranian regime continues its abuses of civilians as the war continues. “Iranian authorities have re-arrested Peshawa Aqapour, a former detainee of the Women, Life, Freedom (Jin, Jiyan, Azadi) protests, in the city of Bukan. Government forces used violence during the arrest and assaulted members of his family, leaving his father with broken ribs,” the organization said.
“Iranian authorities have held three members of a Baha’i family, Bahareh Afshar, Arshia Afshar, and Arshad Afshar, in detention for more than two months in Isfahan province. They remain imprisoned in Dolatabad and Dastgerd prisons without a clear legal status,” Hengaw also noted.
In Alborz province, the Iranian regime continues to hold a mother and her 15-year-old son.