In the late hours of Monday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched ten ballistic missiles toward Erbil, under the pretext of targeting “spy headquarters” of anti-Iran groups, killing Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dizayee and three other people. Dizayee’s mansion, destroyed in the attack, was described by Tehran as a Mossad base - a claim strongly denied by Kurdish officials.
"Was [little] Zhina an Israeli officer? As if martyring a Zhina was not enough, you martyred another Zhina. Kurds will name thousands of other [women] Zhina," Duhok Governor Ali Tatar said during a demonstration in Duhok held against Iran’s missile attacks on Erbil which killed four people and injured several others late Monday.
Zhina Mahsa Amini was a young Kurdish woman who was killed at the hands of Iran’s morality police in 2022, after being arrested for allegedly wearing a lax hijab. Her death sparked Iran’s longest protest movement in the past four decades. Protesters chanting “Jin Jiyan Azadi” (Woman Life Freedom) called for greater freedoms for women, but the movement grew into an anti-government revolution as the authorities responded with violence. Hundreds of people were killed and thousands arrested. Many Kurds also saw it as an attack on the ethnic group that has been oppressed by Tehran for decades.
The other Zhina in question is Dizayee’s daughter, who was killed in Monday’s attack at the young age of 11 months.
Her death has triggered widespread anger among Kurdish officials and the public alike, with Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Spokesperson Peshawa Hawramani sarcastically calling her “a Mossad officer” in a post he shared on X on Wednesday.
Residents of Erbil and Soran cities have also held protests against the missile attacks in recent days, strongly condemning the actions.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani cancelled their scheduled meetings with Iranian officials at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, in light of Iran’s latest deadly attacks on the Kurdish capital.
