Iran Accuses U.S. of Using Human Shields After American Soldiers Relocate to Hotels and Offices in the Middle East

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Iranian officials have urged civilians in the Gulf region to report the locations of U.S. soldiers working out of hotels and office spaces in the area.

On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Iran’s retaliatory attacks on U.S. bases in the Middle East have sent soldiers scrambling to work from safer facilities that are less likely to be targeted, according to American officials. The Times reported that “thousands” of the 40,000 troops stationed in the region when the war began on Feb. 28 have been relocated. That, according to retired Master Sgt. Wes J. Bryant, complicates matters.

“Yes, we have the ability to set up expedient operation centers, but you’re absolutely going to lose capability,” Bryant, a former U.S. Air Special Operations targeting specialist, told the Times. “You can’t just put all that equipment on the top of a hotel, for example. Some of it is unwieldy.”

In response to the relocations, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has told people in the region to report the whereabouts of U.S. soldiers:

“We are forced to identify and target the Americans,” the intelligence arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a message to people in the region, according to Tasnim News Agency. “Therefore, it is better not to shelter them in hotels and to stay away from their locations.”

The message added that “it is your Islamic duty to accurately report the hiding places of American terrorists and send the information to us on Telegram,” a social media app.

The U.S. and Israel have long accused various Islamist groups, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, of using civilians as “human shields” by stationing military personnel, weaponry, or other assets in residential areas in Gaza and Lebanon, respectively.

Thirteen U.S. soldiers and more than 1,500 Iranians have died since the war began. Eighteen Israelis have also been killed, as well as more than 1,000 Lebanese, amid Israel’s invasion of the country.

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