For more than a week, the Middle East has been engulfed in a new wave of violence. Last week, tensions that had simmered for decades erupted when USA and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran. In swift retaliation, Iran targeted US military bases and other sites in several countries across the region with missiles and drones. The cycle of violence has intensified, drawing multiple countries and raising fears of a wider regional conflict.

This is not a geopolitical analysis. Experts — credentialed and otherwise — are already dissecting the causes and consequences of this conflict. Social media has become a battlefield of its own, where distortion spreads faster than verified facts and public understanding is often the first casualty. For those seeking a deeper understanding of the conflict’s roots, a wealth of resources is available, but one must tread carefully to avoid falling prey to misleading narratives.

Iran’s record of repression and violence against dissidents is well—documented. The United States, for its part, has been at war for all but roughly 25 years since its founding in 1776. These histories remind us that conflict has long been embedded in the political DNA of both nations. There is enough history behind this standoff to fill volumes. But deeper context must not obscure what matters most: Civilians always pay the highest price.

The brutality of war often gets reduced to numbers and headlines, but behind every statistic is a life permanently altered or lost. The United Nations has repeatedly warned that civilians make up the vast majority of victims in modern conflict. While leaders speak in terms of military strategy, it is civilians — those with no say in the decisions — that endure the most severe consequences.

Consider, for example, the bombing of a school in Minab on the war’s very first day. In a single, horrifying moment, over 160 schoolchildren — most of them young girls — were killed. What’s even more disturbing is that the same area was bombed again, 40 minutes after, killing parents who had rushed to the school. The loss is incalculable, not only for the families who have lost their children but for the communities and future generations deprived of their promise.

Tragically, the violence did not end there. Over the following days, 6,668 civilian sites have been hit by the US and Israel across Iran. This includes 1,041 commercial buildings, 14 hospitals and clinics (according to UNICEF), 13 Red Crescent humanitarian facilities, over 20 schools (UNICEF), the Mehrabad airport in Tehran and fuel depots and refineries, compounding the grief and sowing terror in the hearts of countless families and the civilian population.

The United States has announced an investigation into the bombing of the school in Minab, but reports from BBC, Reuters, CBS and other news networks suggest that American — made bombs were responsible. In an era when modern weaponry is touted for its precision, the devastation wrought by these attacks is especially harrowing. To call this a tragedy feels wholly inadequate in the face of such overwhelming loss, particularly when so many of the victims are children.

UNICEF spokesperson James Elder framed the tragedy as a test of our collective conscience: “If a child can be killed and it doesn’t feel like a loss for all of us, then I think we’ve lost more than we realize.”

Pope Leo has been vocal in calling for an end to this tragedy, calling for peace several times in a week. When visiting a Roman parish, he said, “Reject all forms of violence, hatred, and division, and strive to be promoters of peace and reconciliation in today's world. Thus, from a young age, we can all learn to be peacemakers, something truly necessary in our world today.”

Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago also issued a statement on the Iran war: "I know that the American people are better than this. We have the good sense to know that what is happening is not entertainment but war, and that Iran is a nation of people, not a video game others play to entertain us."

Strategic debates and political maneuvering drown out war's human reality. War is not only a clash of armies or ideologies. It is the demolition of homes, the tearing apart of families, and the unimaginable grief of parents forced to bury children who deserved full lives.

War, in its essence, is not just a clash of armies or ideologies—it is a force that shatters lives, communities, and our collective sense of humanity. Each new conflict renews old wounds and forges new ones, reminding us that the true cost of war can never be measured in territory gained or lost, because territory can be seized and political narratives rewritten. War’s true cost is measured in lives forever shattered and the futures that violence erases before they ever begin.

(The author is a former Comelec commissioner. He is a pioneer of automated elections being a member of the Commission that successfully modernized Philippine elections in 2010. He remains involved in public service as an election lawyer.)