Hengaw, the Kurdish human rights organisation, documented Iranian military forces relocating into civilian buildings — schools, dormitories, and mosques — as the air campaign enters its third week1. The dispersal places non-combatants at additional risk in a conflict that has already struck 178 cities across 25 provinces.
The pattern is consistent with other battlefield evidence. Basij commander Gholamreza Soleimani and his deputy were killed in a makeshift tent encampment rather than their headquarters — proof that senior commanders have already abandoned fixed installations. After approximately 7,600 Israeli strikes since 28 February, any identifiable military facility is a target. Dispersal into civilian infrastructure is the predictable response of a force without air defence.
Under International humanitarian law, military use of a civilian building can render it a legitimate target — but the obligation to assess proportionality before each strike remains with the attacking force. Hengaw counts 511 civilian dead — 120 minors, 160 women — out of 5,300 total2. If military assets are embedded in schools and mosques, that 9.6% civilian ratio will rise. Tehran has no air raid sirens, no warning systems, and no bomb shelters — conditions under which co-location of troops and families compounds an already acute vulnerability.
Hengaw's credibility on Iranian casualty documentation is established. During the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests, its counts proved more accurate than government figures, which ran at one-quarter to one-third of independent tallies. The organisation operates from outside Iran with a network of local correspondents, particularly in Kurdish-majority provinces where its coverage is densest.
