The Ekbatan residential complex in west Tehran resembled a war zone late Monday as Iranian security forces took aim at apartments with bullets, tear gas and stun grenades, according to videos posted online by monitoring groups.   

Riot police and paramilitary hard-line Basij forces raided the middle-class district to shut down protest shouts from windows. Nightly chanting has been trending as an alternative and safer form of protest at a time when government forces are pressing ahead with a lethal crackdown on street demonstrations that began after the death of Mahsa Amini in custody of religious police Sept. 16.

“We swear to God that we will decapitate even our own families if we need to,” announced a man said to be commanding a battalion of police and Basij forces from behind a loudspeaker inside the premises of the complex. The man was also heard boasting about Iranian government forces and how they managed to salvage the Syrian government from a war by “40 adversary countries, who couldn’t do a thing.” 

The video was confirmed by Fars news agency affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Fars, however, argued that the commander’s statement was meant to show how determined government forces are to “defend” Iran and its people.