Dutch FM concerned over Erbil attack and regional escalation
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Dutch Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot on Tuesday told Kurdistan 24’s Barzan Hassan in Brussels that they are concerned over Iran’s recent attack in Erbil which killed civilians.
“We condemned the attack. We are really concerned and asked Iran to prevent regional escalation,” she said.
“We were horrified that people were killed and that there were casualties among them, an 11-month-old, a Dutch baby, was killed and we asked for more information about the attack and an explanation [as to] why this happened. They are attacking the territorial integrity and sovereignty [of Iraq].”
— Hanke Bruins Slot (@HankeBruinsSlot) January 19, 2024
On Jan. 19, the Dutch FM Bruins Slot on Friday talked with her Iranian counterpart to ask for clarification about the death of a Dutch infant in Iran's attacks in Erbil and summoned the Iranian ambassador.
“The death of the young child, who is less than a year old, is truly heartbreaking; we sympathise intensely with the bereaved family and with the other victims of this attack,” she said in a post on X.
However, her Iranian counterpart claimed no child was killed. “We do not have any evidence proving that a child was killed in the Mossad terrorist headquarters in northern Iraq,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said, while drawing attention to the death of Palestinian women and children in Gaza.
Read More: “No Israeli Mossad base,” Iraqi national security advisor rejects IRGC allegations
Both the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi Government have rejected Iranian claims that there was a Mossad base in Erbil, including the Iraqi National Security Advisor Qassem al-Araji, who visited the site with an investigation committee, and underlined there was no proof for the Iranian claim.
“Everything indicated it was a family residence belonging to an Iraqi businessman from Erbil,” al-Araji told Kurdistan24 after visiting the hospital.
Four civilians were killed in an Iranian ballistic missile attack, in which the house of Peshraw Dizayee in northern Erbil city was targeted, which killed him, including his 11-month daughter Zhina, who has Dutch nationality. Moreover, her mother, a Dutch citizen Hana Jotyar Dizayee and Dizayee’s son Rawan were also Dutch citizens.
Read More: Iranian media publish photoshopped images of missile attack victim
Moreover, Iranian-state-linked media published photoshopped pictures of Peshraw Dizayee with a Russian Jewish rabbi and fighters of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), later Press TV deleted the pictures, after Kurdistan24 uncovered the original pictures on the Facebook of Tasa Elite Company.
The Tasnim News Agency later said it was not the primary source of the photoshopped picture and while not deleting the image nor allegations against Dizayee.
Read More: ‘Photoshopping’ to justify attacks is not a state’s behavior, says KRG foreign relations
“Several allegations, lies, and excuses have been made through photoshopping and other methods to hide the crime,” Safeen Dizayee, the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Foreign Relations Department and a relative of the slain businessman, told reporters on Monday, adding the methods “are not what is expected from a state.”
Editing by Dastan Muwaffaq