Scores of people have been killed across the Middle East since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, with Gulf states that host US military bases and personnel as well as Lebanon quickly drawn into the conflict.

Here are the death tolls from the war as reported by ‌countries as of March 9, more than a week after it began. Reuters has not independently verified these deaths.

Iran: At least 1,230 people have been killed, including 175 schoolgirls and staff killed in a missile strike on a primary school in Minab in the country’s south on the war’s first day, according to the non-profit humanitarian group Iranian Red Crescent Society. It was unclear if the overall death toll included Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military casualties. 

The ⁠Iranian army has said that at least 104 people were killed after a US submarine sank an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka’s coast last week. Those deaths were not included in the toll given by the Red Crescent.

Israel: The military said two soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon, the first fatalities among its troops since hostilities with Hezbollah resumed last week after the group attacked Israel in support of Iran. 

Eleven civilians have been killed, including nine people in an Iranian missile strike on Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem on March 1, according to Israel’s ambulance service Magen David Adom.

United States: Seven servicemembers have been killed in action during operations against Iran, the US military said.

Lebanon: At least 394 people have been killed in ‌Israeli strikes, ⁠including 83 children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

Saudi Arabia: Two people were killed when a projectile fell on a residential location in Al-Kharj city, southeast of the capital Riyadh.

Bahrain: One person was killed after fire broke out in Bahrain’s Salman Industrial City following missile interception on March 2, according to the interior ministry.

Kuwait: One child has been killed in Iranian attacks on the country, according to Kuwait’s health ⁠and foreign ministries.

Two interior ministry officers and two army soldiers were also killed on duty, the army said.

Oman: One person was killed after a projectile hit the Marshall Islands-flagged product tanker MKD VYOM off the coast of Muscat.

United Arab Emirates: Four people have been killed, according ⁠to UAE’s defense ministry.

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.

Iraq: At least 15 people have been killed, according to Iraqi police ⁠and health officials.

One commander from Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, was killed in an airstrike on his vehicle on March 5, police sources told Reuters.

Punch the baby snow monkey and his stuffed orangutan have captured ​hearts around the world, spawned memes, and even won over the White ‌House with their charm.

But in the wild, his fellow Japanese macaques often have a starkly different image: pests to be shooed away or even eliminated to prevent economic damage to farmers.

The ​agriculture ministry estimated that monkeys caused 770 million yen ($4.86 million) worth of ​damage in 2024 — enough for Japan to sanction the capture and ⁠killing of thousands of primates every year.

The treatment of the monkeys is an ​issue that divides those who suffer the consequences of stolen crops and others who ​advocate for a more humane solution.

“It’s important to put countermeasures in place to prevent damage,” said Takayo Soma, a primatologist at Kyoto University. “But it isn’t very scientific to cull a certain number ​of monkeys without proper justification.”

Killing a troop of monkeys only invites another to ​take its place, rendering the practice ineffective and “never-ending”, said Shigeyuki Izumiyama, a professor at Shinshu University.

Instead, some advocate ‌for ⁠non-lethal measures such as electric fences and “monkey dogs”, or pet dogs that can be trained to chase the intruders away across an entire mountain.

Apple farmer Takumi Matsuda, one of few agriculturalists enamoured with snow monkeys, said humans need to recognise the ​role they play in ​causing the problem ⁠in the first place, such as by encroaching on the critters’ natural habitat.

Matsuda has amassed a following on Instagram by ​sharing photos and videos he takes of the primates in ​the mountains ⁠of Nagano prefecture, in central Japan, but said he also understands farmers’ concerns.

“It’s not that farmers hate the monkeys; they are worried about the impact on their livelihood,” he ⁠said. “I ​really hope Punch will be a starting point for ​a lot more people to go and see real Japanese macaques living in the wild.”

• Rubio demands release of detained Americans, including Habibi, Coyle.
• Taliban accused of kidnappings for ransom or policy concessions.
• US warns it may restrict passports for travel to Afghanistan.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday censured Afghanistan over its detention of American citizens, a move that could lead to a ban on US passport holders travelling to the country.

Rubio said in a statement he was designating Afghanistan’s Taliban government as a “state sponsor of wrongful detention,” demanding that Kabul release all US citizens detained in the country, including Mahmood Habibi and Dennis Coyle.

“The Taliban continues to use terrorist tactics, kidnapping individuals for ransom or to seek policy concessions. These despicable tactics need to end,” he said, adding that he had concluded it was not safe for Americans to travel to the country because of the risk of being unjustly detained.

The US is also seeking the return of the remains of Paul Overby, an author who was last seen close to Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan in 2014, two sources familiar with the situation said.

The sources said the US could restrict the use of US passports for travel to Afghanistan if it does not meet the US demands. Such a passport restriction is currently only in place for North Korea.

Rubio, on February 27, issued the same determination against Iran, the first country to be designated under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in September. 

He warned the US could restrict travel to Iran over its detention of US citizens, but has not imposed any restrictions. The US and Israel launched a war against Iran the day after the determination was announced.

Reuters was unable to reach the government in Afghanistan for comment.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government has previously denied that it detained Habibi, who was the head of Afghanistan’s civil aviation.

CBS News was the first to report on the US considering designating Afghanistan as a state sponsor of wrongful detention earlier on Monday.