Iran’s military uses schools and civilian sites during US-Israeli war

Iran’s security and military forces moved personnel, weapons and equipment into at least 70 civilian sites during the US-Israeli airstrikes, an Iran International investigation found, exposing what appears to be a nationwide pattern of using public spaces for military purposes.

The sites span 17 provinces, 28 cities and two villages. Nearly half of them – 34 in total – were primary or secondary schools. Other locations identified in eyewitness accounts and documents reviewed by Iran International included hospitals, stadiums, universities, mosques, parks and government offices.

The accounts were gathered over a 10-day period from March 2 to March 14, 2026, during a near-total internet shutdown that sharply restricted the flow of messages, photos and video from inside Iran.

While Iran International could not independently verify every account, it geolocated visual evidence from seven reported sites, all of them schools.

The deployment of military forces at civilian sites “shifts battlefield risks onto civilians,” a regional security source who requested anonymity said, adding that using such locations for military purposes is prohibited under international law.

“When security or paramilitary forces move into schools, hospitals or mosques, they endanger civilians physically, degrade protected civilian services and may turn those sites into military objectives,” the source said.

Under international humanitarian law, civilian sites can lose protected status if used for military purposes, though attacking forces must still comply with rules on distinction, proportionality and precaution.

The source said the legal implications vary depending on the type of site but warned that such practices can strip civilian locations of their protected status.

“Schools are civilian objects; using them as barracks, firing positions, detention sites, or weapons depots can make them lawful military targets, while still leaving the attacker bound by distinction, proportionality, and feasible precautions,” the source said, adding that this “amounts to human shielding.”

At least four hospitals were identified in eyewitness accounts as having nearby or associated military deployments, including Golestan Hospital in Ahvaz and medical sites in Kermanshah and other western regions.

“Hospitals get even stronger protection than schools. Under International Humanitarian Law, they must be respected and protected, but if they are used outside their humanitarian role, such as for a base, observation post, military center, shelter for military-security personnel, or weapons depot, they lose that special protection, although a clear warning is required before any attack,” the source said.

At least three mosques were identified in eyewitness accounts as having been used for military deployments. In the capital, Tehran, this included Rezvan Mosque on March 8 and Chahardeh Masoum Mosque in University Town on March 7, where special police units were stationed.

Malek Ashtar Mosque in Khosrowshah in East Azarbaijan province was also used on March 9, where IRGC forces were relocated.

Mosques are protected as civilian objects and may also qualify as cultural property under the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property, the source said.

“Using mosques for military purposes is prohibited, but if turned into a military objective, they lose protection, while attacking forces must still take precautions and avoid indiscriminate or disproportionate action,” the source added.

As authorities imposed a near-total internet shutdown across the country after the outbreak of the war, only a limited number of messages were able to get through filtering systems, while photo and video footage remained scarce.

Iran International collected eyewitness accounts from March 2 to March 14 but could not independently verify every claim.

It was nevertheless able to geolocate visual evidence accompanying some of the reports, identifying seven locations, all of them schools.

In Tehran and surrounding areas in north-central Iran, eyewitness reports said police, intelligence and administrative offices in Malard were relocated on March 8 to Fatemiyeh Girls’ High School, which is located alongside two other schools near a gas station.

One of the main hubs for Iran’s plainclothes security forces in Tehran is the Basij’s Meghdad Resistance District, known as the “Meghdad base.” It is located on Azadi Street, next to Sharif University of Technology.

During the June 15, 2009 protests – part of the mass demonstrations that followed Iran’s disputed presidential election and became known as the Green Movement – gunfire using live ammunition was directed at demonstrators from the base’s rooftop.

The Meghdad base sits next to the central headquarters of the West Tehran Combatants Council, a complex with significant influence across paramilitary and security structures. The surrounding area was targeted in strikes on March 6.

After the strikes, eyewitness accounts on March 8 said remaining personnel and equipment had been moved to a fire department building directly opposite the former Meghdad base.

Another eyewitness account on March 9 said forces and equipment were relocated again, this time to a Bank Mellat complex on Azadi Street near the start of Jeyhoon Street. The site is one of the bank’s key national facilities and houses its data center.

Beyond the capital, similar deployments were reported across multiple regions of the country.

In Khuzestan province in southwestern Iran, eyewitness accounts said military forces were stationed at Takhti stadiums in Izeh and Ahvaz, as well as at Chamran University and near Golestan Hospital in Ahvaz, and at a girls’ primary school in Dezful.

In Fars province in southern Iran, military forces were reported at Sardaran Stadium and near the Negin commercial complex in Shiraz, as well as at schools in rural areas.

In Kermanshah in western Iran, missile launchers and military forces were deployed near major hospitals and at an industrial factory. In East Azarbaijan in northwestern Iran, forces were reported at multiple schools in Tabriz and in Hadishahr.

In Isfahan province in central Iran, forces were stationed at women’s parks, sports facilities and schools in several cities, including Isfahan, Dastgerd and Naein. In Alborz province west of Tehran, deployments were reported across Karaj, Hashtgerd and Mehrshahr.

In Razavi Khorasan in northeastern Iran, forces were reported to have used schools in Mashhad as bases, while in Bushehr in southern Iran they were stationed at universities.

In West Azarbaijan in northwestern Iran, forces were reported at a school in Khoy, while 22 Bahman Stadium in Qazvin in north-central Iran served as a main base.

In Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province in southwestern Iran, military forces used Naft Stadium in Gachsaran. In Markazi province in central Iran, deployments were reported at a school and a government office in Arak. In Mazandaran in northern Iran, schools in Tonekabon were used as bases.

In Golestan in northern Iran, military forces were reported at a school and a government building in Gorgan, while in Lorestan in western Iran, deployments were reported at several high schools in Borujerd.

Iranian officials have repeatedly denied accusations that the country uses civilians as shields and have accused Israel of targeting civilian infrastructure during the conflict.

The Israeli military, when contacted for comment, confirmed that Iranian forces were deploying personnel and weapons at civilian sites such as schools, mosques and stadiums.

“Iran’s regime, like all of its proxy and terrorist groups across the Middle East that are activated and employed by this regime, has effectively turned defenseless people into its human shields and hides behind these innocent, unfortunate civilian populations,” Israel Defense Forces Persian-speaking spokesman Kamal Penhasi told Iran International.

“It tries to conceal its military assets and weapons behind people and among the population, including in hospitals, schools, and mosques,” he added.

Asked how civilian harm is minimized in populated areas, Penhasi said evacuation warnings are issued ahead of operations and precision-guided weapons are used to limit collateral damage.

“We do everything within our power to the extent possible to prevent harm to civilians and the citizens of the dear Iranian nation.”

Penhasi urged people to distance themselves from such locations and follow evacuation warnings.

“I ask the people of Iran to pay attention to our messages to protect their lives and safety. As soon as they receive a warning message, they should move away and also pass it on to their neighbors, friends, and relatives,” he said.

Iran International also reached out to the US Central Command, the White House and the Pentagon for comment, but they did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

US Central Command on March 8 issued a safety warning to civilians in Iran, saying civilian locations used for military purposes could become legitimate military targets under international law.

“The Iranian regime is using heavily populated civilian areas to conduct military operations, including launching one-way attack drones and ballistic missiles,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

“This dangerous decision risks the lives of all civilians in Iran since locations used for military purposes lose protected status and could become legitimate military targets under international law,” the statement added.

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In the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, footage sent to Iran International on March 10 from Fakouri Boulevard showed vehicles belonging to security forces present in the courtyard of Ali Shahrestani primary school.

In Tehran, eyewitness reports and images sent to Iran International on March 6, from the city’s Tehranpars neighborhood showed special police unit vehicles deployed inside the courtyard of Hashemi Nejad boys’ primary school on Parvin Boulevard, next to Bent ul-Hoda girls’ school.

In Qazvin in northwestern Iran, footage sent to Iran International on March 2 showed military forces and motorcycles deployed at Sedigheh Kobra Girls’ School on Shahid Sales Street in the Sartak neighborhood.

Even without human shields, civilians are always collateral.

The question is whether it’s worth allowing some enemies to survive, for the sake of saving the children they are using as shields.

A Spectre gunship should be able to surgically take out those vehicles with its guns and not touch the school buildings.

Aren’t you the person who said this war was about Israel expanding its borders with the blood of Americans?

Why, yes, yes you were.

https://freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/4372821/posts?q=1&;page=1

Noticed another poster called you on it, too.

That level of ignorance and bigotry makes anything you say suspect.

I agree. I’m not sure we have such air supremacy that a gun ship could survive, however.

As cool as it it, it’s a prop-driven cargo plane. Big, slow, and low. Just the thing for a MANPAD.

I would think loitering drones with small warheads would be a better choice.

Stand by everything I said. And it’s not just terrorists and civilians dying, it’s a lot of very young Israelis too, which people here seem to forget as they treat the Middle East like a video game spectacle sport...

There is a major manpower shortage in the IDF right now, so only Americans have the numbers for a ground operation to move forward.

On top of that, I don’t believe in willy nilly targeting under the guise of “everything is a shield.”

One of the only Catholic churches in Gaza was bombed in a tank strike and a priest and two parishioners lost their lives.

Who built around said (basically empty) Catholic Church so it could be used as a shield, knowing the Israelis are decent people and would do their best to avoid hitting it?

Who drove off all the Christians in Gaza making the Church basically empty?

Or Bethlehem, for that matter?

Give you a hint, it wasn’t the Jews you hate.

The psychomullah regime always engages in asymmetrical warfare using their citizens as human shields and even children suicide bombers. They need to be eradicated regardless. They WOULD use a nuke. They have demonstrated that they will also lash out at anyone. They’re a demon possessed death cult.

Well, according to Condoleezza Protégé, this war is about Israel expanding its geographical borders.

Never mind the coordinated attacks by Iran from Gaza and Lebanon (and Iran), the raping of women, and the hammering of nails into a young lady’s privates, to which this war is in response.

Or the 11 nukes Iran had on the ready.

The REAL bad guys are, of course, the Jews, because a tank shell accidently hit an nearly empty (because the Muslims killed all the Christians) Church in Gaza in the heat of battle a year ago.

IDF soldiers who are dying are mostly under age 21 — mere TEENAGERS. Look at the numbers from Gaza.

THEIR loved ones will have an empty place at the table this Passover.

Some come home, but maimed.

Some will end up ending their own lives from trauma. And there’s sadly been a statistical uptick among IDF.

War is Hell. And it’s not something to glorify. It’s totally within the right to be measured about how to proceed and wary of those in power. Trump included. And thankfully he DOES care about what the people he serves thinks.

As we’ve spoken about before I have a number of daughters in the IDF. One is currently a medic in Lebanon.

I am well aware of their ages.

There's news out there that American service personnel are being put up in local hotels over there because of the destruction inflicted on US bases.

The news seems to come down to how das Propagandaministerium wants to spin it.

If Iranians move into civilian population centers, it can only be for some malevolent reason. (Iranians are the Bad Guys. 🤨)

If the US moves into civilian population centers, it can only be attributed to a good cause. (The Americans are the Good Guys. 🙂)

I’d be interested to see reports of US Servicemen in hotels, as there has not been significant damage to bases that would seem to require such actions.

But there is a rather larger difference, even if true.

The US Servicemen would be in hotels due to necessity.

The Iranians intentionally construct military facilities under or around civilian areas to increase casualties or deter attacks, knowing we are decent people and don’t want to kill civilians. Or they can use useful idiots to protest the casualties.

The two situations are not comparable unless you are intentionally dense.

An unsourced New York Times report?

The same people who knowingly spread the Russian Collusion Hoax?

Who lied about January 6, claiming police were killed?

And countless other lies?

If there is a real source, wake me.

Then, my point still stands. There is a huge difference between intentionally setting up in schools (or whatever) to intentionally create civilian casualties and doing something out of necessity

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