Why Israel has stepped up strikes on Iranian arms shipments to sites in Syria

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Israeli Air Force F-15 fighters are stepping up strikes on targets in Syria. (AFP)
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Updated 08 September 2022
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Why Israel has stepped up strikes on Iranian arms shipments to sites in Syria

  • Iranian commitment to long-term military presence in Syria viewed as threat by Israel
  • Pressure on IRGC facilities aimed at disrupting flow of weapons to regional proxies

WASHINGTON: The Israelis call it “the war between the wars.” A concerted campaign against Iran’s proxies in Syria, which falls just short of the threshold for all-out war, has emerged as the centerpiece of Israel’s security and defense agenda.

All indications are that Iran is intensifying its commitment to a long-term military presence in Syria that can be used to threaten not only Israel but also its Arab adversaries.

Standing in the way is the Israeli government’s resolve to prevent Iran from achieving its objective, no matter what the Biden administration or the European Union’s views on the subject.
 




Iran’s IGRC has reportedly been moving sensitive precision-guided munitions and high-end electronic equipment to Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia via Iranian bases in Syria. (AFP)

In recent weeks, the Israeli military has dialed up the pressure on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in Syria, hoping to disrupt the movement of sensitive precision-guided munitions, drones, and high-end electronic equipment via Iranian bases in Syria to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia.

On Tuesday, an Israeli air attack launched from the Mediterranean Sea on Aleppo airport damaged the runway and took it out of service, according to Syrian military sources. The previous week, rockets fired by Israel at the airport caused material damage, according to war monitors, just before the arrival of a plane from Iran. 

Israeli military strategists are not just concerned about the IRGC’s use of covert facilities in northwestern Syria and around the capital Damascus to replenish Hezbollah’s missile arsenal. They fear that Iran is seeking to establish a new front for a future war with Israel in the strategic Golan Heights.

The IRGC is believed to be going about this in two ways: By greatly increasing the existing front between Hezbollah and Israel and by putting wider swaths of Israeli territory within range of missile and drone attacks.

In response, Israel has jacked up the frequency of its air strikes against IRGC facilities in Syria and, at the same time, greatly widened the scope when it comes to targets.
 




Iran is using civil operators such as Mahan Air to transport weapons to Syrian proxies, analysts say. (AFP)

According to Western defense officials, owing to disruptions in ground transfers, Iran has become increasingly reliant on civil air transport enterprises, such as Mahan Air, to deliver the weapons and materiel to Syria that ensure the combat readiness of Hezbollah and other Shiite militant groups.

Before the latest strikes on Damascus and Aleppo airports, Israeli intelligence services reportedly detected a notable uptick in covert weapons flights involving commercial aircraft.

The runway at Damascus airport suffered its most severe damage earlier this summer, but just weeks after it was repaired, the Israeli air force struck again on Aug. 31. The same day the airport in Aleppo and its runway suffered damage when a suspected IRGC plane tried to use the facility after failing to land in Damascus.




This handout file photo released by ImageSat International shows a satellite image depicting the damage at Syria’s Aleppo airport following Israeli strikes on August 31. (AFP)

Alma Research Center, an Israeli think tank, has been closely following the ongoing shadow war in Syrian skies. It says the Israeli air force has struck on multiple occasions an Iranian base in Masyaf, located next to the Syrian Scientific Research Center, an organization suspected to be involved in missile production, guided munitions development, and chemical weapons production and storage.

Although Israeli airstrikes over the years have destroyed numerous warehouses and missile depots as well as large quantities of military equipment, the IRGC is said to be still determined to use its presence in Syria to launch attacks against Israel.

A secret operational branch of the IRGC’s elite Quds Force, Unit 840, has been put in charge of plotting external attacks against Israel, according to Israeli researcher Tal Beeri.
 




Members of Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah movement take part in a funeral procession for fighters of the group killed in Syria while fighting for Iran and the Assad regime. (AFP file photo)

“The Iranian strategic concept is to ‘create’ a common border with Israel through the Syrian and Lebanese fronts. In Lebanon they have Hezbollah. In southern Syria, they operate through both civilian and military establishments,” he said.

“The Iranians have a number of options in southern Syria. The more reliable of them are the Hezbollah units (the Golan File and the Southern Command), local mercenary militias and Shiite militias.

“It is quite possible that even now, driven by a desire for revenge, the Iranians will try to make it operationally feasible to act against Israel through southern Syria, through Unit 840’s local infrastructure.”

FASTFACTS

Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile is now more than 19 times the limit set out in the 2015 nuclear deal.

Its stockpile as of Aug. 21 stood at an estimated 3,940kg, up 131.6kg on the IAEA’s last quarterly report. 

(Source: IAEA)

Israel is believed to be behind the killing in May of Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, the leader of Unit 840 in Tehran. The unit last conducted limited cross-border attacks along the no-man’s land separating the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights and the Syrian border in 2020. Since then, the Iranians have not been able to successfully carry out a major attack against Israeli and American interests.

However, analysts believe the synergistic interaction between IRGC operatives in Syria and terror agents across the Middle East poses a security threat to other countries.
 




Syrians lift a placard depicting the leaders of Iran, Syria and the Hezbollah and Houthi terror movements at the Al-Nayrab camp for Palestinian refugees east of Aleppo on May 7, 2021. (AFP)

The nexus between the two groups is embodied by Quds Force commander Gen. Javad Ghaffari, who is believed to be leading the IRGC Intelligence Organization’s mission to target Israelis abroad, including this summer’s plot targeting Israeli diplomats that was thwarted as part of a joint Mossad and Turkish intelligence operation.

Ghaffari was the former top Quds Force commander in Syria, where he earned the moniker the “Butcher of Aleppo” for his role coordinating with Hezbollah and the Fatemiyoun Brigade. The two Iranian proxies have established a number of bases in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor.

Reports from Syria say Ghaffari was expelled from the country for reportedly being too aggressive in plotting and launching attacks against Israel from Syrian territory, which stoked concern in Damascus that the “war between wars” was close to becoming a direct confrontation.

Fear of an all-out war, however, does not seem to have deterred hawks in the Iranian regime from plotting overseas terror attacks, with Syria being just one node of a transcontinental web.


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“It is estimated that in Iran’s list of priorities, Turkey and Azerbaijan are the most preferable locations for its activities,” Beeri told Arab News. “Unit 840 (Khodaei) was responsible for recently planning and attempting to carry out terrorist activities against Israeli and Jewish targets (diplomats, businessmen and institutions) in Cyprus, Colombia, Senegal, Tanzania, Turkey and India.”

The connection between Iran’s regional military operations and international terror activities cannot be overemphasized, according to Behnam Ben Taleblu, a researcher at the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

“The heartland of the region remains the wellspring of Iran-backed terror operations,” he told Arab News. “What the regime has shown is a willingness to step up terror, assassination, intimidation, and kidnapping operations abroad and across a host of different jurisdictions.”

Tehran’s mission in Syria, according to Ben Taleblu, is designed to advance its broader objective of targeting Israel and Israeli interests on multiple fronts.




Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian meets his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad in Tehran. (AFP)

“It’s clear that the Islamic Republic is overseeing multiple missions in Syria,” he said. “These include not just bolstering the Assad regime and Hezbollah fighters operating in the country, but also using the Quds Force to pose a clear and present threat to Israel. That’s where the reports of what Unit 840 in Syria is doing matter most.”

Put differently, he said: “If the past, plus evolving Iranian military capabilities, is prologue, then the unmanned aerial threats space is something the Quds Force will look to deepen in Syria.”

Ben Taleblu’s assessment of the IRGC’s strategy squares with that of Jason Brodsky, director of United Against a Nuclear Iran, a non-partisan think tank in New York City.

He believes the Quds Force, and its specialized units tasked with conducting terror attacks against Israelis worldwide, will continue to view Syria as a critical base of operations, as the Russian military presence in Syria is scaled back owing to the military stalemate in Ukraine.

However, Israel has formulated a specific doctrine meant to outflank and outmaneuver the Iranians, according to Brodksy.

“There is a distinct possibility that the Quds Force, including Unit 840, will seek to expand its presence in Syria. This is because of Russia’s ongoing transfer of military assets to Ukraine, which will create a vacuum that Iran will seek to exploit,” he told Arab News.




A secretive operational branch of the IRGC’s elite Quds Force, Unit 840, is said to be in charge of plotting external attacks against Israel. (AFP file photo)

“The Khodaei operation was meant to send a message to Tehran that Israel will not hesitate to reach deep inside Iranian territory to exact a price for non-nuclear malign behavior like terrorism. It is an implementation of the Octopus Doctrine, which has long been championed by Israel’s prime minister.”

Although it would have preferred to sit out the Israel-Iran shadow war, the US has frequently found itself in the crosshairs of IRGC proxies alongside its regional partners.

A series of American strikes in August targeted Fatemiyoun Brigade facilities in Deir Ezzor and the base of an IRGC-backed militant group just west of the Euphrates River that was believed to be behind a spate of drone and missile attacks against the US military bases in eastern Syria.

In recent times, Shiite militias seem to have become increasingly bold in hitting US bases in the arid flat desert landscape of the Syrian-Iraqi border.

Compared with Israel, US military retaliation in Syria against attacks by Iranian proxies is usually less aggressive and more geographically precise. Still, the Americans and the Israelis coordinate with each other when they launch attacks against the IRGC in Syria, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Iran’s military and intelligence networks in Syria were established with meticulous care by the slain Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.

“Soleimani had the unique ability to manage Iran’s proxy and partner network,” Brodsky told Arab News. “More than two years after his death, Tehran is still struggling to rebuild a durable management structure for this network.”

 


UN official arrives to discuss UNIFIL’s mandate in southern Lebanon

Updated 7 sec ago
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UN official arrives to discuss UNIFIL’s mandate in southern Lebanon

  • Aoun says Lebanon is committed to the peacekeeping force and trying to secure funding
  • Jean-Pierre Lacroix: The UN supports Lebanon’s demand for the continued work of UNIFIL

BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday informed Jean-Pierre Lacroix, UN undersecretary-general for peace operations, of “Lebanon’s firm commitment to maintaining the UNIFIL (mandate) in southern Lebanon for the implementation of Resolution 1701, in coordination with the Lebanese army, which will continue its deployment in the south and the full implementation of the agreement reached in November 2024.”

Aoun expressed hope that “the countries funding international peace missions will be able to provide the necessary funding for UNIFIL’s operations so that the international forces operating in southern Lebanon are not adversely affected.” He said further that “Lebanon will engage in contacts with sisterly and friendly countries in this regard.”

Lacroix arrived in Beirut as part of a round of talks with Lebanese officials, two months ahead of the traditional UN Security Council session on the renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate in southern Lebanon, amid a reduction in US contributions to the peacekeeping budget and ongoing developments in the border area following Israel’s war on Hezbollah, as well as attacks on UNIFIL by Hezbollah supporters trying to prevent patrols without Lebanese army escorts.

The international official’s meetings took place against the backdrop of Israeli aerial offences, with reconnaissance aircraft flying over Beirut and its southern suburbs at low altitude.

During the meeting, according to a statement from the Presidential Palace media office, Lacroix said that “UNIFIL continues to carry out its duties despite the difficult conditions facing the region.”

He explained that “the Lebanese government’s request to renew the international force is under consideration by the UN and the member states of the Security Council. There are differing viewpoints regarding UNIFIL’s role and mandate, and efforts are underway to bridge those views in order to reach an agreement before the mandate expires at the end of August.”

A Lebanese source participating in the international official’s meetings in Beirut, in which he was accompanied by UNIFIL commander Gen. Aroldo Lazaro, said: “Lacroix spoke about the tendency of countries, especially the US, to request further amendments of UNIFIL’s missions in south Lebanon and a reduction in the number of participating forces. The requests did not involve cutting the services provided by these forces in the south to help the residents of the area that UNIFIL’s missions cover, which vary between medical, social and educational assistance.”

After his meeting with Aoun, Lacroix said: “The UN supports Lebanon’s demand for the continued work of UNIFIL, especially since coordination between UNIFIL and the Lebanese army takes place regularly."

Aoun emphasized that “maintaining stability in the South is a vital matter, not only to Lebanon but also to all countries in the region, and UNFIL’s role is essential in maintaining this stability.”

Aoun described “the cooperation between the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL as excellent.” He said: “Lebanon is fully upholding its commitments regarding Resolution 1701 and its provisions. However, completing the army’s deployment to the border requires the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the occupied territories, the return of Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli prisons and the cessation of hostilities constantly targeting Lebanese territory.”

Israel still to occupies five Lebanese hills, which it considers strategic, and violates the ceasefire agreement every day by carrying out land incursions, bulldozing roads, blocking others, and conducting air strikes to assassinate Hezbollah members and raids beyond the Litani River and extending to Beirut’s southern suburbs and the Bekaa Valley.

Lebanon, meanwhile, through its Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, emphasized that “the Lebanese army dismantled more than 500 weapons depots in the south. We have strengthened security at Beirut Airport and we are working with diplomatic channels to stop Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and withdraw from the five sites.”

Aoun awarded Lazaro the National Order of the Cedar, and rank of commander, in recognition of his efforts during his tenure as commander of the international force operating in southern Lebanon. The ceremony marked the conclusion of Lazaro’s mission and his imminent departure from the country.

Lazaro held a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and is expected to meet with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Thursday.

The discussion focused on the latest developments in southern Lebanon and the UNIFIL forces’ work, according to a statement from Berri’s office.


Under Israeli attack, Iran has ‘legitimate’ right to self-defense: Erdogan

Updated 37 min 57 sec ago
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Under Israeli attack, Iran has ‘legitimate’ right to self-defense: Erdogan

  • Erdogan said Turkiye is 'closely following Israel’s terrorist attacks on Iran'
  • He had ordered the defense industry to increase production of medium and long-range missiles to 'increase its level of deterrence'

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday Iran had the “legitimate” right to defend itself in the face of Israel’s ongoing bombing campaign, now in its sixth day.
“It is a very natural, legitimate and legal right for Iran to defend itself against Israel’s thuggery and state terrorism,” the Turkish leader said, a day after referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “the biggest threat to the security of the region.”
The long-range blitz began early Friday, when Israel launched a massive bombing campaign that prompted Iran to hit back with missiles and drones, including hypersonic missiles.
“These attacks were organized while the Iranian nuclear negotiations were taking place,” Erdogan said.
“Israel, which possesses nuclear weapons and does not recognize any international rules... did not wait for the negotiations to end but carried out a terrorist act without waiting for the result,” he added.
Iran says at least 224 people have been killed in the Israeli attacks, which have targeted nuclear and military facilities, while Iranian fire on Israel has claimed at least 24 lives and wounded hundreds more, Netanyahu’s office said.
“We are closely following Israel’s terrorist attacks on Iran. All our institutions are on high alert regarding the possible effects of these attacks on Turkiye,” Erdogan said.
“We are making preparations for every kind of scenario,” he said.
“Nobody should dare to test us. We don’t have any desire to take other people’s lands... in the region,” he added.
His remarks prompted a sharp riposte from Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who pointed to Turkiye’s presence in Syria and in the divided island of Cyprus, where it controls the northern part.
“It is particularly ironic that someone who does not hide his imperialist ambitions, who invaded northern Syria and illegally holds northern Cyprus, claims to speak in the name of morality and international law,” Saar wrote on X.
“A little self-awareness could be helpful,” he added.
On Monday, Erdogan said he had ordered the defense industry to increase production of medium and long-range missiles to “increase its level of deterrence” in light of the air war between Israel and Iran.


Israeli forces kill young Palestinian, arrest 60 during night raids in West Bank

Updated 18 June 2025
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Israeli forces kill young Palestinian, arrest 60 during night raids in West Bank

  • Moataz Al-Hajjleh, 21, killed in raid near Bethlehem
  • Israel forces have arrested 160 Palestinians this week

LONDON: Israeli forces killed a 21-year-old Palestinian and arrested at least 60 people during night raids on Tuesday across various towns in the occupied West Bank, including a woman, children, and former political prisoners.

The Palestinian Authority’s affiliated groups, the Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, announced on Wednesday that Israeli forces have arrested 160 Palestinians in the West Bank so far this week.

Some of those arrested were later released following interrogation.

Moataz Al-Hajjleh, 21, from the town of Al-Walaja village near Bethlehem, was killed during an Israeli raid of the area overnight.

Israeli forces conducted arrests and investigations during raids in several Palestinian governorates, including Nablus, Jenin and Ramallah.

Israeli forces have turned dozens of Palestinian houses into military points after forcibly expelling their inhabitants in the Jenin environs, the Wafa news agency reported.

At the same time, several villages had their entrances closed with earth mounds or gates.

The prisoners’ groups added that ongoing mass detention operations by Israeli forces “continue to be the most prominent, consistent, and systematic policies employed by the occupation to undermine any escalating resistance against it.”


Iranians buying supplies in Iraq tell of fear, shortages back home

Updated 18 June 2025
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Iranians buying supplies in Iraq tell of fear, shortages back home

  • Shortages in Iran were mostly due to panic-stricken Iranians who rushed to markets to stockpile basic supplies following the Israeli attacks, citizens say

PENJWEN, Iraq: Near the once-bustling Iraqi border crossing of Bashmakh, Iranian driver Fatah stocked up on rice, sugar and tea, staples that have become increasingly hard to get back home.
Fatah — who like others in this story is being identified by a pseudonym — was among dozens of truck drivers waiting impatiently to cross back into Iran from Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, hauling not only their commercial cargo, but also essential goods for their families after days of Israeli attacks.
AFP spoke with at least 30 Iranians near the Bashmakh crossing. They all refused to be interviewed on camera, and the few who agreed to describe life back home asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals back in Iran.
“There are shortages of rice, bread, sugar and tea,” Fatah said Tuesday.
Finding fuel has also become a major problem, with long queues of cars waiting hours in front of gas stations hoping the fuel did not run out, the 40-year-old driver added.
A long journey awaits Fatah, who must deliver his load of asphalt to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas about 1,700 kilometers (1,060 miles) away, before turning around and driving almost the same distance back to the western city of Marivan, where his family lives and which has so far been spared bombardment.
But “my route passes near the Natanz nuclear facility,” Fatah said, referring to one of Iran’s underground uranium enrichment sites that Israel has struck several times since the start of its campaign last week.
Surprise attack
Israel launched a devastating surprise attack on Friday targeting Iran’s military and nuclear sites and killing top commanders and scientists.
Israel says its attacks are aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, an ambition Tehran denies.
At least 224 people, including women and children, have been killed in the Israeli strikes, according to official figures.
The assault has prompted retaliatory barrages of missiles from Iran that have killed at least 24 people in Israel, according to the prime minister’s office.
Aram, 28, keeps calling his wife, fearing for his family’s safety after they had to flee their home when a strike hit a military site nearby in the city of Sanandaj.
“My family is safe, but they had to move in with relatives in a village,” Aram said.
His wife told him that many families who lived near military sites in the area had been similarly displaced.
The father of two said the shortages back home were mostly due to panic-stricken Iranians who rushed to markets to stockpile basic supplies.
Fear of shortages mounts
Back in Iran, car dealer Shwan recalled how Israeli jets struck several military sites near his city of Bukan in the west.
“People are shocked and distraught, they don’t know what they should do,” the 35-year-old told AFP via a messaging app from inside Iran.
“We have a major problem with bread shortages,” he said.
People were queuing at bakeries for hours to get loaves of bread, sometimes to no avail, Shwan said.
“Sometimes four members of one family go around bakeries looking for bread,” he added.
“It is also difficult to find rice or oil,” and many civil servants have not received their salaries yet, he said.
Avin, a 38-year-old seamstress, told AFP via a messaging app that the war “has spread fear among residents,” even though the bombs have not touched her town of Saqqez in northwest Iran.
“Some families with children left to villages outside the city,” she said.
Like others, she fears more shortages to come.
“Most of the provisions come from Tehran,” which has seen a massive exodus and is also grappling with scarcity.
“Because of this, the market in our city came to a standstill.”


Fear stalks Tehran as Israel bombards, shelters fill up and communicating grows harder

Updated 18 June 2025
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Fear stalks Tehran as Israel bombards, shelters fill up and communicating grows harder

  • Thousands have fled, spending hours in gridlock as they head toward the suburbs, the Caspian Sea, or even Armenia or Türkiye
  • Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 585 people and wounded over 1,300, a human rights group says

NEW YORK: The streets of Tehran are empty, businesses closed, communications patchy at best. With no bona fide bomb shelters open to the public, panicked masses spend restless nights on the floors of metro stations as strikes boom overhead.

This is Iran’s capital city, just under a week into a fierce Israeli blitz to destroy the country’s nuclear program and its military capabilities. After knocking out much of Iran’s air defense system, Israel says its warplanes have free rein over the city’s skies. US President Donald Trump on Monday told Tehran’s roughly 10 million residents to evacuate “immediately.”

Thousands have fled, spending hours in gridlock as they head toward the suburbs, the Caspian Sea, or even Armenia or Türkiye. But others — those elderly and infirm — are stuck in high-rise apartment buildings. Their relatives fret: what to do?

Israeli strikes on Iran have killed at least 585 people and wounded over 1,300, a human rights group says. Local media, themselves targets of bombardment, have stopped reporting on the attacks, leaving Iranians in the dark. There are few visible signs of state authority: Police appear largely undercover, air raid sirens are unreliable, and there’s scant information on what to do in case of attack.

Shirin, 49, who lives in the southern part of Tehran, said every call or text to friends and family in recent days has felt like it could be the last.

“We don’t know if tomorrow we will be alive,” she said.

Many Iranians feel conflicted. Some support Israel’s targeting of Iranian political and military officials they see as repressive. Others staunchly defend the Islamic Republic and retaliatory strikes on Israel. Then, there are those who oppose Iran’s rulers — but still don’t want to see their country bombed.

To stay, or to go?

The Associated Press interviewed five people in Iran and one Iranian American in the US over the phone. All spoke either on the condition of anonymity or only allowed their first names to be used, for fear of retribution from the state against them or their families.

Most of the calls ended abruptly and within minutes, cutting off conversations as people grew nervous — or because the connection dropped. Iran’s government has acknowledged disrupting Internet access. It says it’s to protect the country, though that has blocked average Iranians from getting information from the outside world.

Iranians in the diaspora wait anxiously for news from relatives. One, an Iranian American human rights researcher in the US, said he last heard from relatives when some were trying to flee Tehran earlier in the week. He believes that lack of gas and traffic prevented them from leaving.

The most heartbreaking interaction, he said, was when his older cousins — with whom he grew up in Iran — told him “we don’t know where to go. If we die, we die.”

“Their sense was just despair,” he said.

Some families have made the decision to split up.

A 23-year-old Afghan refugee who has lived in Iran for four years said he stayed behind in Tehran but sent his wife and newborn son out of the city after a strike Monday hit a nearby pharmacy.

“It was a very bad shock for them,” he said.

Some, like Shirin, said fleeing was not an option. The apartment buildings in Tehran are towering and dense. Her father has Alzheimer’s and needs an ambulance to move. Her mother’s severe arthritis would make even a short trip extremely painful.

Still, hoping escape might be possible, she spent the last several days trying to gather their medications. Her brother waited at a gas station until 3 a.m., only to be turned away when the fuel ran out. As of Monday, gas was being rationed to under 20 liters (5 gallons) per driver at stations across Iran after an Israeli strike set fire to the world’s largest gas field.

Some people, like Arshia, said they are just tired.

“I don’t want to go in traffic for 40 hours, 30 hours, 20 hours, just to get to somewhere that might get bombed eventually,” he said.

The 22-year-old has been staying in the house with his parents since the initial Israeli strike. He said his once-lively neighborhood of Saadat Abad in northwestern Tehran is now a ghost town. Schools are closed. Very few people even step outside to walk their dogs. Most local stores have run out of drinking water and cooking oil. Others closed.

Still, Arshia said the prospect of finding a new place is too daunting.

“We don’t have the resources to leave at the moment,” he said.

Residents are on their own
No air raid sirens went off as Israeli strikes began pounding Tehran before dawn Friday. For many, it was an early sign civilians would have to go it alone.

During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Tehran was a low-slung city, many homes had basements to shelter in, and there were air raid drills and sirens. Now the capital is packed with close-built high-rise apartments without shelters.

“It’s a kind of failing of the past that they didn’t build shelters,” said a 29-year-old Tehran resident who left the city Monday. “Even though we’ve been under the shadow of a war, as long as I can remember.”

Her friend’s boyfriend was killed while going to the store.

“You don’t really expect your boyfriend — or your anyone, really — to leave the house and never return when they just went out for a routine normal shopping trip,” she said.

Those who choose to relocate do so without help from the government. The state has said it is opening mosques, schools and metro stations for use as shelters. Some are closed, others overcrowded.

Hundreds crammed into one Tehran metro station Friday night. Small family groups lay on the floor. One student, a refugee from another country, said she spent 12 hours in the station with her relatives.

“Everyone there was panicking because of the situation,” she said. “Everyone doesn’t know what will happen next, if there is war in the future and what they should do. People think nowhere is safe for them.”

Soon after leaving the station, she saw that Israel had warned a swath of Tehran to evacuate.

“For immigrant communities, this is so hard to live in this kind of situation,” she said, explaining she feels like she has nowhere to escape to — especially not her home country, which she asked not be identified.

Fear of Iran mingles with fear of Israel

For Shirin, the hostilities are bittersweet. Despite being against the theocracy and its treatment of women, the idea that Israel may determine the future does not sit well with her.

“As much as we want the end of this regime, we didn’t want it to come at the hands of a foreign government,” she said. “We would have preferred that if there were to be a change, it would be the result of a people’s movement in Iran.”

Meanwhile, the 29-year-old who left Tehran had an even more basic message for those outside Iran:

“I just want people to remember that whatever is happening here, it’s not routine business for us. People’s lives here — people’s livelihoods — feel as important to them as they feel to anyone in any other place. How would you feel if your city or your country was under bombardment by another country, and people were dying left and right?”

“We are kind of like, this can’t be happening. This can’t be my life.”