New information is being reported on the alleged strike of the US and Israel on an elementary school of Lamerd on the opening day of the war against Iran of February 28. Recent reports suggest that a new US-made ballistic weapon might have been used in the attack, and this was the first time it was used in war.
At least 21 deaths are attributed to the strike in Lamerd according to the local authorities quoted in the Iranian media. The patterns of the blasts and damage to the structure may indicate the potential use of the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), a short-range ballistic missile system that was created to explode over its target and spread high-velocity fragments of tungsten in a large area.
A second strike was also reported on the same day in the city of Minab in which a school was reportedly struck by a US Tomahawk cruise missile, which caused a much greater number of fatalities. Such organized attacks have caused serious concerns regarding assaults on civilian infrastructures and the application of hi-tech weaponry in highly populated regions.
With PrSm system being only in a prototype testing only last year, the first active deployment of the system was not known before, and its reported use was especially notable. Its use as an analyst indicates a transition to integrate more recent and high-precision missile systems in current military activity.
The event has caused an even stronger international focus and discussion on the intensification of the conflict, and there are demands to hire independent audits to understand the essence of the strikes and their humanitarian consequences.