Firing on unarmed civilians in Gaza 'a war crime'
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Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Al Jazeera
Nowhere to run: The Afghan refugees caught in Israel's war on Iran
On Friday, June 13, when Israeli missiles began raining down on Tehran, Shamsi was reminded once again just how vulnerable she and her family are. The 34-year-old Afghan mother of two was working at her sewing job in north Tehran. In a state of panic and fear, she rushed back home to find her daughters, aged five and seven, huddled beneath a table in horror. Shamsi fled Taliban rule in Afghanistan just a year ago, hoping Iran would offer safety. Now, undocumented and terrified, she finds herself caught in yet another dangerous situation – this time with no shelter, no status, and no way out. 'I escaped the Taliban but bombs were raining over our heads here,' Shamsi told Al Jazeera from her home in northern Tehran, asking to be referred to by her first name only, for security reasons. 'We came here for safety, but we didn't know where to go.' Shamsi, a former activist in Afghanistan, and her husband, a former soldier in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan before the Taliban returned to power in 2021, fled to Iran on a temporary visa, fearful of reprisals from the Taliban over their work. But they have been unable to renew their visas because of the cost and the requirement to exit Iran and re-enter through Taliban-controlled Afghanistan – a journey that would likely be too dangerous. Life in Iran has not been easy. Without legal residency, Shamsi has no protection at work, no bank account, and no access to aid. 'There was no help from Iranians, or from any international organisation,' she said. Internet blackouts in Tehran have made it hard to find information or contact family. 'Without a driver's licence, we can't move around. Every crossroad in Tehran is heavily inspected by police,' she said, noting that they managed to get around restrictions to buy food before Israel began bombing, but once that started it became much harder. Iran hosts an estimated 3.5 million refugees and people in refugee-like situations, including some 750,000 registered Afghans. But more than 2.6 million are undocumented individuals. Since the Taliban's return to power and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, thousands of Afghans, including activists, journalists, former soldiers, and other vulnerable people, have crossed into Iran seeking refuge. Tehran province alone reportedly hosts 1.5 million Afghan refugees – the majority of them undocumented – and as Israel targeted sites in and around the capital, attacking civilian and military locations during the 12-day conflict, many Afghans were starkly reminded of their extreme vulnerability – unprotected and unable to access emergency assistance, or even reliable information during air raids as the internet was shut down for large periods of time. While many fled Tehran for the north of Iran, Afghan refugees like Shamsi and her family had nowhere to go. On the night of June 22, an explosion shook her neighbourhood, breaking the windows of the family's apartment. 'I was awake until 3am, and just an hour after I fell asleep, another blast woke me up,' she said. An entire residential apartment was levelled near her building. 'I prepared a bag with my children's main items to be ready if something happens to our building.' The June 23 ceasefire brokered by Qatar and the US came as a huge relief, but now there are other problems: Shamsi's family is almost out of money. Her employer, who used to pay her in cash, has left the city and won't answer her calls. 'He's disappeared,' she said. 'When I [previously] asked for my unpaid wages, he just said: 'You're an Afghan migrant, get out, out, out.'' The human cost of conflict For all Afghans trapped in Iran – both those forced to flee and those who stayed in their homes – the 12-day conflict with Israel has sharply reawakened feelings of trauma and displacement. Furthermore, according to the Iranian health authorities, three Afghan migrants – identified as Hafiz Bostani, Abdulwali and Habibullah Jamshidi – were among the 610 people killed in the recent strikes. On June 18, 18-year-old Afghan labourer Abdulwali was killed and several others were injured in an Israeli strike on their construction site in the Tehranpars area of Tehran. According to the victim's father, Abdulwali left his studies in Afghanistan about six months ago to work in Iran to feed his family. In a video widely shared by Abdulwali's friends, his colleagues at the construction site can be heard calling to him to leave the building as loud explosions echo in the background. Other Afghans are still missing since the Israeli strikes. Hakimi, an elderly Afghan man from Takhar province in Afghanistan, told Al Jazeera that he hadn't heard from three of his grandsons in Iran for four days. 'They were stuck inside a construction site in central Tehran with no food,' he said. All he knows is that they retreated to the basement of the unfinished apartment building they were working on when they heard the sound of bombs, he explained. The shops nearby were closed, and their Iranian employer has fled the city without paying wages. Even if they have survived, he added, they are undocumented. 'If they get out, they will get deported by police,' Hakimi said. From one danger zone to another During the conflict, UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett urged all parties to protect Afghan migrants in Iran, warning of serious risks to their safety and calling for immediate humanitarian safeguards. Afghan activist Laila Forugh Mohammadi, who now lives outside the country, is using social media to raise awareness about the dire conditions Afghans are facing in Iran. 'People can't move, can't speak,' she said. 'Most have no legal documents, and that puts them in a dangerous position where they can't even retrieve unpaid wages from fleeing employers.' She also flagged that amid the Iran-Israel conflict, there is no government body supporting Afghans. 'There's no bureaucracy to process their situation. We dreaded an escalation in the violence between Iran and Israel for the safety of our people,' she said. In the end, those who did manage to evacuate from the most dangerous areas in Iran mostly did so with the help of Afghan organisations. The Afghan Women Activists' Coordinating Body (AWACB), part of the European Organisation for Integration, helped hundreds of women – many of whom fled the Taliban because of their activist work – and their families to flee. They relocated from high-risk areas like Tehran, Isfahan and Qom – the sites of key nuclear facilities which Israel and the US both targeted – to safer cities such as Mashhad in the northeast of the country. The group also helped with communicating with families in Afghanistan during the ongoing internet blackouts in Iran. 'Our capacity is limited. We can only support official members of AWACB,' said Dr Patoni Teichmann, the group's founder, speaking to Al Jazeera before the ceasefire. 'We have evacuated 103 women out of our existing 450 members, most of whom are Afghan women's rights activists and protesters who rallied against the women's education ban and fled Afghanistan.' 'I can't go back to the Taliban' Iran recently announced plans to deport up to two million undocumented Afghans, but during the 12-day conflict, some took the decision to move back anyway despite the dangers and hardships they may face there. World Vision Afghanistan reported that, throughout the 12-day war, approximately 7,000 Afghans were crossing daily from Iran into Afghanistan via the Islam Qala border in Herat. 'People are arriving with only the clothes on their backs,' said Mark Cal, a field representative. 'They're traumatised, confused, and returning to a homeland still in economic and social freefall.' The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has voiced grave concerns about the deteriorating humanitarian situation for Afghans in Iran, adding that it is monitoring reports that people are on the move within Iran and that some are leaving for neighbouring countries. Even as Israeli strikes came to a halt, tensions remain high, and the number of Afghans fleeing Iran is expected to rise. But for many, there is nowhere left to go. Back in northern Tehran, Shamsi sits beside her daughter watching an Iranian news channel. 'We came here for safety,' she says softly. Asked what she would do if the situation worsens, Shamsi doesn't hesitate: 'I will stay here with my family. I can't go back to the Taliban.' This piece was published in collaboration with Egab.
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Thousands mourn top Iranian commanders, scientists killed by Israel
A state funeral service is under way in Iran for about 60 people, including military commanders, killed in Israeli attacks, with thousands joining the ceremony in the capital, Tehran. State TV showed footage of people donning black clothes, waving Iranian flags and holding pictures of the slain head of the Revolutionary Guard, other top commanders and nuclear scientists in the ceremony that started at 8am (04:30 GMT) on Saturday. Images from central Tehran showed coffins draped in Iranian flags and bearing portraits of the deceased commanders in uniform. The United States had carried out strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend, joining its ally Israel's bombardments of Iran in the 12-day war launched on June 13. Both Israel and Iran claimed victory in the war that ended with a ceasefire on Tuesday, with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei downplaying the US strikes, claiming Trump had 'exaggerated events in unusual ways', and rejecting US claims that Iran's nuclear programme had been set back by decades. The coffins of the Guard's chief General Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard's ballistic missile programme, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, and others were driven on trucks along the capital's Azadi Street as people in the crowds chanted: 'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel'. Salami and Hajizadeh were both killed on the first day of the war, which Israel said was meant to destroy Iran's nuclear programme. Mohammad Bagheri, a major-general in Iran's Revolutionary Guard, as well as top nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi were also killed in Israeli attacks. Saturday's ceremonies were the first public funerals for top commanders since the ceasefire, and Iranian state television reported that they were for 60 people in total, including four women and four children. Authorities closed government offices to allow public servants to attend the ceremonies. War of words The state funeral comes a day after US President Donald Trump launched a tirade on his Truth Social platform, blasting Khamenei for claiming in a video address that Iran had won the war. Trump also claimed to have known 'EXACTLY where he (Khamenei) was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the US Armed Forces… terminate his life'. He claimed he had been working in recent days on the possible removal of sanctions against Iran, but he dropped it after Khamenei's remarks. Hitting back at Trump on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X: 'If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran's Supreme Leader.' Al Jazeera's Resul Serdar, reporting from Tehran, said Araghchi's remarks were 'a most expected reaction' to Trump's social media posts. 'Many Iranian people regard him [Khamenei] as chiefly a religious leader, but according to the constitution, he's not only that – he's the political leader, he's the military leader – he's simply the head of state in Iran,' he said. Serdar also said Khamenei's position is not just the top of a hierarchy, but a divine role in Shia political theology. 'Not only in Iran, but across the world, we know there are a significant number of Shia who look for his guidance,' Serdar said. 'Anyone who knows that would be meticulously careful not to publicly criticise him, and particularly not to accuse him of lying.' No nuclear talks planned There was no immediate sign of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the state broadcast of the funeral. Khamenei, who has not made a public appearance since before the outbreak of the war, has in past funerals held prayers for fallen commanders over their coffins before the open ceremonies, later aired on state television. During the 12 days before the ceasefire, Israel claimed it killed about 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, while hitting eight nuclear-related facilities and more than 720 military infrastructure sites. Iran fired more than 550 ballistic missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted, but those that got through caused damage in many areas and killed 28 people, according to Israeli figures. The Israeli attacks on Iran killed at least 627 civilians, Tehran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education said. After the US strikes, Trump said negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme for a new deal were set to restart next week, but Tehran denied there were plans for a resumption.
Al Jazeera
4 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
LIVE: Outrage over report Israeli troops ordered to shoot Gaza aid seekers
US President Donald Trump said a ceasefire in Gaza could be reached 'within the next week' as Israeli attacks continue, with more than 60 people killed across the territory on Friday. Gaza's Government Media Office says revelations in the Israeli media that soldiers were ordered to 'deliberately shoot' starving Palestinians seeking aid supplies are further evidence of 'war crimes' in Gaza.
