Iranian state TV said the strike in Dimona, home to a nuclear facility, was retaliation for an earlier attack on its Natanz nuclear site. PHOTO: AFP
Thousands of people have been killed across the Middle East since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28 and Iran launched strikes against Israel, US bases and Gulf states.
Here are the death tolls reported as of March 23, which Reuters has not independently verified.
Iran
US-based rights group HRANA said on March 22 that 3,268 people have been killed. It said 1,443 of those were civilians, including at least 217 children.
The group says its data comes from field reports, local contacts, medical and emergency sources, civil society networks, open source materials and official statements.
The latest figures reported by state media put the toll at 1,270 people. Iran’s ambassador to the UN said on March 6 that at least 1,332 people had been killed since the war began. There has been no clarification of the discrepancy.
It was not clear if those figures included at least 104 people who the Iranian military said were killed in a US attack on an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka on March 4.
Lebanon
Around 1,039 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since March 2, according to Lebanese authorities. The World Health Organisation and Lebanese health authorities said more than 100 of those killed were children.
Iraq
At least 81 people have been killed, according to Iraqi authorities. Most of those were members of the Shi’ite Popular Mobilisation Forces. One foreign crew member was killed in an attack on tankers near an Iraqi port, according to port security officials.
Israel
Iranian missile attacks have killed 16 people in Israel, according to Israel’s ambulance service. The Israeli military said two of its soldiers were also killed in southern Lebanon.
Separately, an Israeli was killed by the Israeli military in his car on March 22 near the border with Lebanon. Israel said on Monday its own forces had misfired artillery that killed a farmer near the Lebanese frontier, the first Israeli civilian killed in a border conflict being waged along with the war in Iran.
West Bank
Four Palestinian women were killed in an Iranian missile attack in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
United States
Thirteen service members have been killed. Six were confirmed dead after a US military refuelling aircraft crashed over Iraq, the US military said, while seven others have been killed in action during operations against Iran.
United Arab Emirates
Eight people have been killed in Iranian attacks, including two army soldiers, according to the UAE defence ministry.
Qatar
Seven people were killed on March 22 in a deadly helicopter crash in Qatar’s territorial waters after a technical malfunction during a “routine duty,” according to Qatar’s defence ministry. No further details were provided.
Four of those killed were Qatari armed forces personnel, one Turkish serviceman from the Qatar-Turkey joint forces and two technicians working for Turkey’s defence giant ASELSAN.
Kuwait
Authorities have reported six deaths, including two people killed in Iranian attacks, two interior ministry officers and two army soldiers.
Syria
Four people were killed when an Iranian missile struck a building in the southern Syrian city of Sweida on February 28, state news agency SANA said.
Oman
Two people were reported killed on March 13 in a drone strike on an industrial zone in Sohar province, marking the first fatalities inside the country, which had been hosting mediation talks between the U.S. and Iran. One person died earlier when a projectile hit a tanker off the coast of Muscat, the vessel’s manager said.
Saudi Arabia
Two people were killed when a projectile fell on a residential location in Al-Kharj city, southeast of the capital Riyadh.
Bahrain
Two people were killed in two separate Iranian attacks, with the most recent hitting a residential building in the capital Manama, according to the interior ministry.
France
One French soldier was killed, and six others were wounded after a drone attack in northern Iraq, where they were providing counterterrorism training.
