End of a dreamDizayee split his time between Erbil and Dubai.
“He wanted to develop Erbil in order to elevate it to the level of cities like Dubai,” his relative said.
Kurdish officials have in recent years promised to turn Erbil into another Dubai but the financial crisis has prevented that dream from coming true.
Iranian ballistic missiles on Monday reduced most of his meticulously crafted residence to ashes. He had returned from abroad only a few days prior.
Apart from Dizayee, the victims of the strike include his eleven-month-old daughter, Zhina, a housekeeper, and Iraqi businessman Karam Mikhail, who was visiting his Kurdish friend.
“I have never heard that he had any issues with anyone or any party and no one had threatened him,” Salar Hawar Agha, a cousin of Dizayee, told Rudaw.
“The accusations shocked us more than the attacks did because Mr. Peshraw was not involved in political and partisan activities and had no ties with intelligence agencies. He was purely neutral,” Dizayee’s office told Rudaw, adding that other members of the family who were targeted by Iran as well, were also not involved in politics.
His older son, Roj, 25, lost a hand in the strike. Rawan, his other son, is slightly injured.
He had two wives. The younger one, Hana Jutyar, was also injured in the bombardment.
Dizayee was a philanthropist, funding schools, hospitals and families of Peshmerga fighters who lost their lives in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson of the Iranian foreign ministry on Tuesday said that the ballistic missile strike on Erbil was in line with Tehran’s defense of its sovereignty, security, and the mission of “combating terrorism.” The Iraqi foreign ministry summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires to hand him a protest note in response to the attacks on the same day.
Kanaani reiterated the IRGC’s early Tuesday morning claim of having targeted “spy headquarters,” more specifically Israel’s Mossad-affiliated center, in the Kurdistan Region’s capital.
Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji headed a high-level security delegation to Erbil to assess the aftermath of the Iranian bombardment of the Kurdish capital. After inspecting the targeted location, he concluded that claims about the presence of Mossad base in Erbil are “baseless.”
In March 2022 Iran hit the residence of Baz Karim Barzinji, the CEO and founder of the Iraqi-Kurdish oil company KAR Group, claiming it was a Mossad base.
Barzinji survived the attack.
Sirwan Abbas contributed to this article.
About the Author
