US-Israeli Strikes Hit Civilian Targets Across Iran, Coalition To End Draft Registration, and More

Hey, this is Dave DeCamp from anti-war.com,

and welcome to anti-war news.

It's about 9.40 on Tuesday night here in Virginia.

And of course, we have a ton of stuff to get through.

The first story at the top of anti-war.com

is a very important one.

Coalition calls for ending preparations

for a military draft.

So this article's from Edward Hossbrook,

and he is someone who follows the developments

when it comes to the selective service system.

And we're very thankful that we can run his articles

at anti-war.com.

If not for him, I would not have noticed the fact

that buried into the 2026 National Defense Authorization

Act was a law automating the registration

for selective service, automating draft registration.

And under the NDA, this law is supposed to take effect

by the end of the year.

And this automatic draft registration is supposed to start.

Now, as Edward has written about a lot,

if they try to implement this, it's going to be a mess.

There's going to be all sorts of errors and wrong information

while they're trying to sweep up the information of men

who need to register for selective service

under the current laws.

But so with in light of this and in light of the escalations

in the Middle East, this new war with Iran

and the potential for troops being put in Iran

and you know, just all signs are pointing toward escalation.

A new coalition of different groups, anti-war groups,

religious groups, civil liberties groups

from all over the political spectrum

has gotten together and put out a statement calling

for not only a halt to this law for the automatic registration,

but repealing the selective service system altogether,

ending the draft registration.

And so he gets into a lot of the details here,

but there's an important link toward the bottom of the page

here, and I'll try to remember to put this

in the description of the show.

And it's a form that you could fill out.

And this is from the Friends Committee

of National Legislation, which is a Quaker anti-war group.

And it's a brief statement that you can send

to your members of Congress.

You just put in your information, your address,

so it's sent to your representative

and telling them that I'll just read this brief statement

because this kind of summarizes what that statement

from the coalition is about and what this new effort

is trying to do here.

So it says, in 2025, Congress took a dangerous step

by establishing automatic draft registration

in the selective service system for all males aged 18 to 25.

Selective service registration creates a dilemma

in which some young men are forced to choose

between their strongly held moral convictions

against violence and their obedience to the government.

Tell Congress to abolish the selective service system

as part of this year's annual military policy

bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA.

We must repeal the automatic registration requirements

and stop further expansion.

The selective service system is unnecessary,

unethical, and outdated.

Automatic registration is not a fix.

It is a misguided attempt to prop up a failing

and dysfunctional system that should be abolished entirely.

So again, I'll put that link in the description.

I still have to fill it out and send it out.

But I think this is an important easy thing

that we could all do.

And there was an interview that Caroline Leavitt did,

as Edward mentioned in that article on Fox News.

She was asked, the question was basically,

oh, what do you tell mothers who are worried about a draft?

And are there troops going to be sent into Iran?

And in answering the question, Leavitt did not directly

address the question about specifically the draft.

But she did say it seemed like she was answering more

of the question on troops in Iran

that the administration was not taking any options off the table.

So she did not, again, I don't know if she directly addressed

the question about the draft, but she certainly did not deny

that it was something under consideration

or for the future.

So yeah, now to get into the stories about the Iran War,

the next one here, US and Israeli strikes

hit civilian targets across Iran.

So US and Israeli airstrikes have pounded civilian targets

across Iran since the war began on February 28,

damaging more than 19,734 civilian units

according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.

So the Red Crescent set on Tuesday

that the figure includes 16,191 residential units.

And I believe that includes apartments

and houses, 3,384 commercial units,

77 pharmaceutical and medical centers

and at least 69 schools.

The Human Rights Activist News Agency or HRANA,

a US-based NGO that's very critical of the Iranian government

has also recorded many attacks on civilian targets

and significant civilian casualties.

According to their count as of Monday night,

the group said that since the war began,

it recorded 1,245 civilian deaths,

including 194 children and 189 military fatalities,

another 327 deaths remain unclassified.

You see this picture here,

the aftermath of strikes in Tehran.

And the HRANA said that strikes on Monday included attacks

that hit two museums, a medical center,

a sports stadium, a car dealership,

and several military targets.

The group said that a total of 40 civilians

were killed over a 24-hour period.

And again, that was on Monday.

The worst incident of civilian harm

came during the opening hours of the US's rally bombing campaign

when an elementary school in Minab,

Southern Iran was hit,

and 175 people were massacred.

The vast majority being school girls and boys,

little girls and little boys.

I believe the toll varies a bit,

but I believe it's at least 140 little kids

who were massacred in that strike.

And all available evidence indicates

that it was a US Tomahawk missile

that hit the elementary school.

And there's reports that there was actually two strikes

that it was one strike hit.

And then a lot of the children were moved

into a prayer hall in the school.

And then that was hit as well.

So just absolutely horrific.

And it's just hard to even fathom that scale

of that many children being killed at once.

So US and Israeli strikes pounded Tehran overnight Monday

into Tuesday with residents reporting it

as the heaviest bombardment yet.

A resident of Western Tehran told Al Jazeera, quote,

it felt like tens of fighter jets were flying

right above our heads for 15 minutes straight at first,

that a few minutes have paused

before the next round of strikes came in.

The ground and windows and our hearts were shaking,

but we took shelter in our bathroom

and got through it and quote,

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth held a press conference

on Tuesday morning and vowed that the bombing campaign

would intensify.

He said that Tuesday would be the heaviest bombing yet.

So that's the message, escalation, escalation, escalation.

So the next one here is many as 150 US troops

wounded in a Ron war so far.

So as many as 150 US troops have been wounded in the war

with Iran since it was launched by the US and Israel

in February 28th.

And this was reported by Reuters on Tuesday.

Prior to the report, the US, the Pentagon had said

that eight US soldiers were seriously wounded

and confirmed the deaths of eight US service members,

including seven killed by Iranian counterattacks

and one who they said died of an unspecified medical emergency.

So after this Reuters report came out

that there's actually 150 wounded US soldiers,

the Pentagon acknowledged that at least 140 US troops

had been injured.

So it took this Reuters report for them to put out this number.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said quote,

since the start of Operation Epic Fury,

approximately 140 US service members have been wounded

over 10 days of sustained attacks,

the vast majority of these injuries have been minor

and 108 service members have already returned to duty.

Eight service members remain listed as severely injured

and are receiving the highest level of medical care.

And quote, Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin said

that she learned that the eight soldiers

who were designated as seriously injured

face life threatening injuries.

And throughout the war, the message from President Trump,

Hegseth has been expect more Americans to be killed.

And I've been of the opinion that they have not been

disclosing all the casualties

and that the number of dead could as well,

I think could be higher than what has been confirmed.

All right, so the next one here,

US Israeli war kills hundreds of Iranian and Lebanese kids.

So this article's from Brett Wilkins.

And, you know, we know this, you know,

I've been covering it and, you know,

the numbers of children killed in Lebanon,

children killed in that elementary school strike.

But there's some about just putting it together.

US and Israeli air strikes have killed nearly 300

Iranian and Lebanese children over the past nine days

as the attacks target apartment towers, single family homes,

schools, medical facilities,

and other civilian infrastructure.

Iran's health ministry said on Sunday that 198 women

and 190 minors have been killed by US and Israeli attacks

since February 28,

including six children under the age of five.

The youngest reported victim is an eight month old girl.

So children account for about 30% of those killed

according to the Iranian government's numbers,

which are very similar to the HR and A,

which again, it's not no friend of the Iranian government.

And so the Lebanese health ministry said,

and again, these are numbers that we've gone over.

But in that first week of Israel escalating

the bombing campaign in Lebanon,

they killed at least 394 people.

The numbers are already well over that.

And as of Sunday, it was 83 children who were killed.

Lots of civilians being killed in Lebanon.

All right, so the next one here,

record pace of strikes in Iran bombing campaign.

So this is from Air Wars,

which is a group that monitors Air Wars.

It's in the name here.

But this was, I thought, interesting

and goes to show how heavy this bombing campaign has been.

So the first days of bombing in Iran

saw far more sights targeted

than any recent US or Israeli military campaign

and Air Wars analysis has found

by comparing publicly released targeting figures

from both the US and Israeli militaries

with historic data.

The analysis found the initial days of the campaign

hit significantly more targets per day

than any campaign in recent decades.

Even in the opening days of Israel's unprecedented bombardment

of Gaza after October 7th,

it appears that around half the number of targets

were hit compared to the first days in Iran.

And of course, Iran is much bigger than Gaza.

So it actually goes to show how much they bombed Gaza

in those first days,

that bombing this huge country

and Gaza, they dropped half as many munitions

on this tiny strip of land.

Just really barbaric.

But anyway, the closest paste campaign

was the escalated wave of strikes

on Lebanon in September 2024,

where more than 1600 Hezbollah targets

were declared hit by Israel on the first day,

but the rate dropped significantly after that.

And so this is even more, they have a graph here.

The first 100 hours of the US and Israeli war in Iran,

there was more targets hit

than the first six months of the war against ISIS.

And twice as many targets hit as the first 100 hours

of the IDF in Gaza.

And Trump's campaign in Yemen was very, very heavy,

but it's like almost four times as many targets were hit

as were hit in Yemen over those 52 days.

And the IDF 12-day war is much smaller,

less than 1,000 targets were hit over those 12 days

and 4,000 targets were hit.

Again, this is according to US and Israeli numbers

in just the first 100 hours of the US and Israeli war

against Iran.

And again, the message from Hexeth

is they're escalating and escalating.

All right, the next one here,

Trump issues threats over the Strait of Hormuz.

So President Trump on Tuesday threatened Iran

with consequences never seen before.

If it's forces lay minds in the Strait of Hormuz

as the Trump administration appears to be scrambling

on how to deal with the war's impact

on the global oil market.

So Trump wrote on true social quote,

if Iran has put out any minds in the Hormuz Strait

and we have no reports of them doing so,

we want them removed immediately.

If for any reason, minds were placed

and they are not removed forth with,

the military consequences to Iran

will be at a level never seen before.

If on the other hand, they remove what may have been placed,

it will be a giant step in the right direction.

End quote.

So not long after the initial post,

Trump took to truth social again to claim

that US forces have hit and completely destroyed,

10 inactive mind laying boats and our ships with more to follow.

So he's kind of saying there that they were not

in the process of laying any minds.

But so this post came after earlier in the day,

the US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Twitter

that the US Navy escorted a tanker

through the Strait of Hormuz.

And upon that news, the price of oil dropped.

And then it turned out that it wasn't true,

that this never happened.

And he eventually deleted the tweet

and then that sent the price of oil back up.

So you wonder was that, you know,

are they just purposely putting out bad information

to try to change that the price of oil there?

And so the IRGC has said that the Strait is closed

and the only ships that are going through there,

which is few, I think the traffic's down like 94%

are going through there with permission.

They say that they've hit 10 tankers with drones so far

that have tried to go through.

And to me, this just looks like panic from Trump here.

You know, putting out all these tweets,

he also issued a threat on Monday night

related to the Strait of Hormuz.

You know, putting out all these,

making all these threats, which do not seem to be

deterring Iran or the IRGC at all

when it comes to keeping the Strait effectively closed.

All right, so the next one here, the US tries

to distance itself from Israeli strikes

on Iran oil infrastructure.

So the US has tried to distance itself

from Israel's weekend air strikes

on oil infrastructure in Iran,

which turned the skies over Tehran black

and poured toxic rain mixed with oil on the city.

The US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth

was asked about reports of US discontent

over the Israeli strikes and insisted

that the US and Israel have different objectives

in the war despite launching it together

and the US military's significant role

in defending Israel from Iranian counterattacks.

And you know, I saw that they tried to do this

Elbridge Colby, you know, with some testimony

to the Senate said, you know, that,

you know, oh, Israel killed common A,

you know, that it's regime changed on our goal,

that that's Israel's thing.

But at the same time, you have Trump bragging about

saying that he killed him and that,

and you know, trying to dictate who the next leader is.

But so they're trying to make this claim that,

oh, you know, we have different objectives

that then Israel, this is what Hegseth said

in response to the questions.

While I would just start by saying

Israel's been a really strong partner in this effort

where they have different objectives,

they pursued them, ultimately we've stayed focused on ours.

But what Iran has felt is the power of the world's

two most powerful air forces in that particular case

that wasn't our strikes or that objective

or that wasn't necessarily our objective end quote.

And then there's a report from Axios

from Barack Reveed, the former IDF intelligence officer

that said the US had asked Israel to refrain

from further strikes on a reigning energy infrastructure

for several reasons.

One of those reasons was that they're worried

that Iran could unleash on oil infrastructure

in the Arab Gulf states.

There's been reports of some drones hitting oil

infrastructure over there,

but there hasn't been a massive effort

to hit those oil fields.

And a big thing, you know, the Houthis in Yemen,

so far have not entered the war.

So, you know, and they say that they're ready to go,

that they're willing to.

So, you know, this goes to show that Iran hasn't played

all of its cards yet, that they still have room for escalation.

And that next escalation could be really hitting

the oil infrastructure.

But one thing, the Saudis, you know,

we saw these reports in the first few days of the war

that the Saudis decided to start, you know,

enter the war and start attacking Iran,

but they haven't done that.

And, you know, despite the Iranian drone attacks,

which are targeting US bases,

but some of them have hit other targets.

You know, and I think the US and Israel

really want them to join in,

but then they are also worried about the energy, you know,

because if that really, you know,

I mean, if they really start hitting the oil fields

and things, then the oil price is gonna go up even more.

All right, so the next one here,

Whitkov admits that he does not know how the Iran war ends.

So Steve Whitkov, the US mid-east envoy acknowledged

on Tuesday that he doesn't know how the war with Iran will end

as US Israeli strikes continue

and Iranian counter-attacks continue.

So I kind of just wrote this up to put this clip in

because if you hear Whitkov here,

then this is the guy who led the negotiations

and he's been making all sorts of claims about the Iranians.

But this is what he said when he was asked,

where does this war go?

So how do you see this ending, this war?

I don't know, Sarah, I know this,

that President Trump is the wrong guy to go up against.

That's what I...

So that's what he said.

He said, I don't know, stumbled a bit on his words

and then he said, oh, but I do know,

Trump's the wrong guy to go up against.

So again, this is the guy who led the talks

and it was clear, you know, it's very clear now

that they were not genuine diplomatic talks

based on a lot of the things that he has said,

both when they were happening

and after they're happening, all these claims he's been making.

I don't even really feel like getting into it now.

I mean, if you guys watch the show,

you're aware of most of them.

It's almost like, it's just such brazen BS

that we're getting from this administration.

It's like, I struggle out even like attack them

because they're just putting out so many different lies

and fake reasons for why this war started.

I just don't even want to waste my time with that now.

But he's this guy, supposedly, he wanted a deal,

he wanted diplomacy and now this war is raging

and he doesn't even know like what the end game is here.

And Trump just said the other day

that one of the reasons why he attacked Iran,

he said that he took the advice of wait cough and cushioner

and launched the war.

So this guy had a lot of influence over Trump's thinking

and he was coordinating with Netanyahu

in the Israelis the whole time.

All right, so the next one here,

US is moving parts of Thad system

from South Korea to the Middle East.

So the US military has begun transferring parts

of a terminal high altitude area defense or Thad air defense

system based in South Korea to the Middle East

as the war with Iran is straining US military stockpiles.

The US has used a large number of Thad interceptors

and other missile defense munitions.

And Iranian attacks have hit Thad radars.

I know at least one in Jordan

and I think in other parts of the region.

And so they're moving the Thad,

they're also moving patriot missiles

from around the Asia Pacific bases into the Middle East

and South Korea's president Lee Jae-miyeon

he expressed reservations on Tuesday

about the US withdrawing the equipment from South Korea

but said that he could not fully oppose the move.

And we've seen Trump officials downplay these concerns

about the stockpiles but they're very real.

You know, the shortage of these interceptors

and the thing about them,

there's a big imbalance here when it comes to,

you know, if the US is using these way, way, way, way faster

than they can replace them.

And they're very expensive.

They're using them to shoot down Iranian drones

that are very cheap and can be produced much more quickly.

And so, you know, this is a big problem for the US.

And there are signs that Iran's strategy has been

to use their less sophisticated weapons

in the beginning and then to transfer move

to their more advanced missiles once they hit the radar systems

to complete the US stockpiles a bit.

So there's a chance of not just the drones

but the more advanced missiles starting to really come through.

When it comes to Israel, the censorship is pretty significant.

So it's hard to know what's what exactly is happening there

but it does seem like they're taking a lot of hits

at the moment in Israel.

So this war certainly, you know, despite the picture

that they're trying to paint here,

this is a sign that it's not going as planned

and it's not going the way that they hoped,

that the US hoped.

So the next one here, Israel says that it's too late

for Lebanon peace talks.

So this article is from Jason Ditz.

So Israel has rejected Lebanon's recent proposals

for negotiations aimed at ending the ongoing Israeli invasion,

declaring that it is too late for talks

and that the war must continue until Hezbollah

is completely militarily destroyed.

US envoy Tom Barrack reportedly supports the Israeli decision

saying that there's nothing to discuss

and that certainly seems to be the opinion

of this Trump administration.

And there's more airstrikes on Tuesday,

including in a village in the South

that killed a family of eight.

And there was a strike in the tire district that killed two.

And so the, you know, very high death toll here,

I think it's around 500 now in Lebanon

and very heavy airstrikes.

And 700,000 people have been displaced,

just a massive number of people,

just a horrific situation in Lebanon.

The next one here, Syrian president vows absolute support

to Ditzarm Hezbollah.

So now you see why the US supported Al-Qaeda

taking power in Syria.

So this article's from the cradle.

So Lebanese president Joseph Aoun received the phone call

on March 10th from a Syrian counterpart,

ex-Al-Qaeda chief Ahmed Al-Shara

who expressed his support for Beirut's efforts

in disarming Hezbollah.

The Lebanese president,

presidency said Aoun and Shara

discussed regional developments and stress

that the current situation requires activating coordination

and consultation between the two countries,

especially with regard to the need to control the borders

and prevent any security breaches from any side.

And of course, since this Israeli invasion

and airstrikes escalated,

the position of the Lebanese government has been,

you know, we got a Ditzarm Hezbollah.

But Israel saying it's too late, you know,

I mean, as we just covered in that last story.

But this is what the Syrian presidency said in their statement,

quote, President Shara expressed his explicit

and absolute support for the efforts led by President Joseph Aoun

to disarm Hezbollah.

He affirmed that this step is essential

for solidifying Lebanese state sovereignty

and shielding the region from the repercussions

of ongoing regional armed conflicts, and quote.

And so he's always going to take the side against

the she is essentially against Hezbollah against Iran

and its allies in the region.

All right, so the next one here, Lindsey Graham says,

I will be with Israel until our dying day.

So the ultra hawkish US Senator Lindsey Graham,

Republican from South Carolina declared an interview on Monday

that he will be with Israel until our dying day,

whatever our dying day is going to be,

as he is urging the US and Israel

to continue pursuing regime change.

He said, quote, I believe with all my heart and soul,

if the regime in Iran still stands when this is over,

we've made a mistake, two our friends in Israel

God bless you, I am with you in every way.

To all the anti-Semites, to all the isolationists,

I am not, forget it, I'm not with you, I'm with Israel.

I will be with Israel until our dying day.

They're the best ally we could hope for.

End quote.

And if you've seen Lindsey Graham

in any of these interviews he's been doing,

it almost seems like he's having like a manic episode

or something, he's so charged up about all these wars

and all this death and destruction that is happening.

And there was a reporting from the Wall Street Journal

that before the war started,

you remember he was going to Israel every couple of weeks.

He was coaching Netanyahu on how to convince Trump

to launch the war according to this report.

And he made no secret about his intentions when he was there.

Just despicable, he says that after,

oh, he's also calling for the US to join in

on the airstrikes in Lebanon.

And he's saying Cuba's next.

We are marching through the world,

just very, very sick stuff from a very, very sick man.

The next one here, airstrikes kill four PMF fighters

in Iraq.

So this article is from Al Jazeera.

And Iraq's prime minister has told the US Secretary

of State Marco Rubio that his country should not be used

as a launch pad for attacks in the Middle East war,

the Iraqi government said this comes as several strikes

were launched across Iraq on Tuesday,

including one that hit a group affiliated

with the mostly Shia popular mobilization forces or PMF.

So there's more what are likely US airstrikes in Iraq

and at least four PMF fighters were killed in these attacks.

And there's been claims from some of these Shia militias

that are part of the PMF of attacks on US bases,

drone attacks in the region.

So the situation in Iraq is certainly heating up.

And there's a lot of Shia's in Iraq, of course,

and this situation is probably just gonna get more

and more volatile as the war in Iran goes on.

All right, so the last one here,

the US bombs Somalia for the 43rd time this year.

So they are still finding time to drop some bombs

on Somalia.

So US Africa Command announced an oppressed release

that its forces launched an airstrike in Somalia

on Sunday, March 8th.

The first tone US strike in the country since the day

the US and Israel launched the war on Iran.

The last airstrike that Africa announced took place

on February 28th, which was the day

that the US and Israel started bombing Iran.

When it comes to Africa and there could have been

other airstrikes in between that they have it announced

or sometimes they announced them weeks later.

So we don't know exactly,

but they're claiming this was an attack

on the ISIS affiliate in Puntland.

And we know no other information about it.

There's no local media reports about it.

The US backed Puntland forces haven't put out a statement on it.

So we don't really know what's happening on the ground.

We just know that the US launched an airstrike on this day.

And this is at least the 43rd US airstrike in Somalia.

They're on track to break the record that they broke last year,

which is a hunt, they set the record at 124

African airstrikes in Somalia in 2025.

But it looks like there was a bit of a low

when the the the Iran war first started.

So we'll see if they get back up to the pacer.

Who knows what what they're planning to do in Somalia.

All right, so that is it for the news for today.

Please go check out our viewpoints.

One from David Stockman, Washington's latest big lie,

Iran's 47 years war on America.

One from Jenny Williams, chaos or democracy,

the impossible US gamble in Iran.

One from Yerevan Said won't get fooled again.

Courts have lent arms to US before at their peril.

One from Brandon Buck, wars abroad lead to suppression at home.

One from Cody Morgan, war with Iran making the same mistakes

all over again, or a host of new ones.

One from Jeffrey Robertson, the South Korea

really want US attention on the Korean peninsula.

And our spotlight is from Edward Hasbrook,

another one from him, even if the Trump team wanted it,

a military draft would be a fiasco.

That's over at responsible state craft.

Again, go fill out that form and tell your representative

to want to abolish the draft, abolish the selective service,

especially with all this insanity going on.

But that's it for me for today.

Please like, subscribe, comment, support anti-war.com.

If you can, you could always go to anti-war.com slash donate

to help us out there, follow us on social media.

I will be back tomorrow with some more news.

Thanks for listening.