As airstrikes intensify, Iranians are flocking to the borders

Sandwich between the sterile mountains straddling the border of almost 600 kilometers between Iran and Turkey, families shoot suitcases and push the strollers through a strongly secure door to taxis and pending trucks.

Some flee Iran to escape the intensification of air strikes, while others try to enter the country to find families, after days of power outage on the Internet contact them.

With closed Iranian airspace, they had to resort to isolated level passages.

“We have to go [to Iran] And be with our family … but maybe we will leave again, “said Ali Sadra Souf, who was trying to cross Iran in the border crossing of Kapikoy-Razi.

Suf was on vacation in Türkiye when Israel launched air strikes against Iran on June 13. Sunday – A few hours after US President Donald Trump pushed Washington directly into the war with war with Attacks against three Iranian nuclear sites – He was going home with his mother.

Suf was comfortable to have its image and its full name published, but most of the Iranians CBC News spoke with them asked to remain anonymous or to be identified by their first name because they feared any repercussions for having spoken of the government.

Iran is governed by a strict theocratic regime which took power after the Revolution in 1979. Inside the country, the opposition comes up against a steep and violent repression.

People were killed or imprisoned even for the least signs of protest. The independent media are not tolerated and the state has an ultimate control over the story that IT projects beyond the borders of Iran.

The country of around 90 million is politically divided, and those who spoke to CBC News expressed different opinions on which is ultimately responsible for climbing tensions and the place where the conflict could lead.

However, they are united by the fact that their life has been disrupted – and even endangered – by air strikes, which, according to the Israeli government, are precisely aimed at military sites and targets related to the Iranian regime.

At the same border post, a 25 -year -old Iranian told CBC News that in the first days of the Israeli air campaign, the situation was terrible in the capital, Tehran.

“It was so bad … I heard between 10 and 15 explosions around my home,” he said.

The man, who was on his way to Toronto after recently received a work visa, did not want his name to be published because he feared that he could not face reprisals on his return to visit his family.

When asked what the Iranians thought of the prospect that the conflict could lead to a change of diet, he chose his words carefully.

“There are different groups in the country, and yes, some of them are now on the streets,” he said.

“But most people just want to live in peace … without any problem and without any fight.”

He did not yet have a plane ticket for Canada because he said that some of the Iranian banks did not work. The Iranian government said it imposed an used an almost universal internet breakdown for a large part of last week as a measure of protection against cyberattacks.

“ Just try to survive at that moment ”

In the past few days, CBC News has contacted several contacts in Iran. Most could not answer because they could not connect to the Internet. But when the service was partially restored on Saturday, people began to respond with vocal memos of cities from all over the country.

“”[Everyone] Just try to survive this moment, “said a man who only wanted to be identified as Hamed.

“We don’t really have much confidence in the situation that the government creates … There seems to be a kind of solidarity among people.”

Earlier last week, Hamed said, he joined Mass Exodus outside Tehran. He described the driving along the blocked roads of traffic while the sounds of the explosions resounded throughout the night.

The trip to the city of Qazvin, which should have taken less than two hours, took new.

“There were so many accidents,” he said. “The roads were not safe. Long queues for gasoline stretched along the road, which aggravates things.”

He said he was particularly angry with the internet error failure because it meant that people outside Iran did not get a precise feeling of the impact of air strikes.

On Saturday, the Iranian Ministry of Health said that some 400 Iranians had been killed and that 3,056 others injured in Israeli strikes.

But on Sunday, a group based in Washington, human rights activists, said that its figures showed that the number of deaths was higher, with more than 800 killed.

Among the dead, the group said that they had identified 363 civilians and 215 members of the security forces.

Angry with us, Israel

A few hours before the United States hit Iranian nuclear sites with bombers and cruise missiles, Hamed predicted that if Washington chose to get involved, Iranian society would be angry.

“Hatred towards Israel and the United States gets up strongly here,” he said.

“This fantasy that a foreign power … could somehow lead us to freedom – we just don’t see that as a possibility.”

Still others believe that Israeli strikes on Iranian military and security infrastructure destabilize the regime, even if there is no external sign that the government is about to overthrow.

“We hope that this war will end the dictatorship of the Islamic Republic,” said a 70 -year -old woman who only wanted to be identified by the name Homa.

“”[Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamanei has been at war with the whole world for decades and has kept the Iranian people in pain, sorrow and misery. “”

Khamenei maintains his grip on power since 1989 by controlling practically all facets of society, including the armed forces and the body of the Iranian revolutionary guard.

In a vocal message, Homa said that before leaving Tehran, there were checkpoints throughout the city and that the cars were constantly sought after.

Alam Saleh, lecturer at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies of the Australian National University, was visiting Tehran after being invited to speak during a conference.

He remains in the capital but estimates that in a city of approximately 10 million, about a third left.

Saleh said GPS navigation systems do not work because Iran uses scrambling systems to try to disrupt Israeli air attacks.

During one of the voice messages he sent to CBC News, the sounds of the explosions could be heard in the background.

While he admitted that he was concerned about his security, he said that he was not yet ready to go north in a safer area of ​​the country.

“I witnessed the 1979 Revolution. I witnessed the Iran-Iraq war,” he said.

“I think it’s probably another very historical moment for Iran in its contemporary history.”