TEHRAN – U.S. and Israeli airstrikes targeting the Vanak neighborhood of Tehran have been ongoing since February 28th, bringing problems to several nearby hospitals and aid facilities, including Tehran’s only burn center.

The Vanak neighborhood is strategically significant, housing a cluster of crucial medical institutions, including Valiasr Hospital with over 350 beds, the Khatam al-Anbia Hospital with approximately 1,000 beds providing specialized services, the Shahid Motahari Burns and Trauma Center, known as Tehran’s sole burn center, the Red Crescent Rehabilitation Center, Tehran Province Welfare Center, the Ameneh Orphanage, and Shahid Rajaei Heart Hospital, amongst others.

There have been accounts by eye-witnesses and media personnel reporting intense shelling and shockwaves from missile impacts, causing significant damage to hospitals, some with considerable disruption. Patients and staff seeking safety, individuals using motorcycles and private vehicles to transport the wounded, have been among chaotic scenes reported by eye-witnesses. 

In a broader scene, the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) has confirmed that dozens of medical facilities across Iran have been affected by the attacks, with three completely rendered inoperable. 

“The enemy’s claim of not targeting non-military facilities is false,” said IRCS head Pirhossein Kolivand, who reported that beds and stretchers were moved to open spaces as medical staff evacuated patients.

For one of the attacks in the vicinity of Yasemi Street, eye-witnesses on the ground painted a grim picture of unfolding chaos. “The shockwaves from missile impacts rattled nearby buildings, triggering the shattering of countless windows and engulfing the area in thick black smoke,” an eye-witness told the Tehran Times. 

Another person noted that in a desperate struggle for survival, medical workers were forced to initiate rapid evacuations, transporting patients. 

The scene was, reportedly, a somewhat of a tableau for bravery and anguish, with individuals rushing to help those in need, using motorcycles and private vehicles to transport the wounded to safety.  

According to recent report by ISNA news agency, in the yards of some hospitals, beds and stretchers were moved one after another to the open space. Patients, some of whom were in critical condition, were carried out of the buildings, accompanied by IV drips and medical equipment, with the help of nurses and rescuers. 

“The sound of ambulance sirens mingled with the cries of those searching for their loved ones. Amidst the chaos, a man in the middle of the street, with tearful eyes, was desperately asking every passerby for an ambulance to transport a patient hospitalized at the hospital who had been injured in the attacks.”

A few meters away, an elderly couple emerged from the smoke and dust. Their legs had little strength to move, and their faces were pale with fear and shock. People and rescuers worked together to evacuate anyone in need of assistance from the area, ISNA said. 

“An upset person cried out, ‘A nurse has glass in her throat; someone help!’ Red Crescent forces arrived and provided aid.”

Another account described a complex situation that prevailed at the Red Crescent Rehabilitation Center where some beneficiaries, who had come for medical services or to practice with prosthetic limbs, were suddenly confronted with the sound of explosions and shattering glass. 

Center staff then struggled to evacuate beneficiaries who lacked the ability to move quickly from the building one by one.

In the center was also a children’s rehabilitation room, where children with mobility problems or developmental disorders were receiving treatment. The intensity of the explosion had shattered windows and scattered equipment in the rooms, and staff worked rapidly to evacuate the children to a safe location.

Amid all these concerns, what drew the most attention was the targeting of an area specifically populated with medical and humanitarian aid facilities that, according to the most fundamental principles of humanity and well-established rules of international humanitarian law, should remain untouched in all circumstances.

Attacking the peaceful atmosphere of medical facilities, hospitals, and locations where patients and civilians are present is considered a serious violation of the rules of war in many international documents, including the Geneva Conventions. 

What became known within the Vanak area was not merely a series of explosions; it was a moment where patients, rescuers, nurses, and ordinary people worked together, amidst smoke and fear, striving to save lives. In the courtyards of hospitals, on beds that were quickly moved to open spaces, patients lay hoping for the same facilities that were now damaged and out of service.

These attacks are a “clear violation of humanitarian law,” Kolivand underlined. 

“As head of the Red Crescent Society and head of the National Humanitarian Law Committee of the Islamic Republic of Iran, I have reported these incidents in writing to the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Federation, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Furthermore, all violations of humanitarian law have been reported to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.”

“Some international officials have condemned these attacks, but condemnation alone is not enough, and there is an expectation of decisive action against those responsible for these actions, “Kolivand added. 

Over the past couple of days, Vanak, like thousands of other neighborhoods across Iran, was full of scenes that may remain in the city’s memory for years to come; scenes of pain, attempts to rescue, and a profound question about the fate of laws intended to protect the lives of innocent civilians.

AM