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Hezbollah's head of missiles and rockets Ibrahim Qubaisi was among six killed in an Israeli air strike on Beirut, the militia confirmed on Wednesday morning, before launching a missile that reached Tel Aviv before being shot down.
“It is the first time ever that a Hezbollah missile reached Tel Aviv area. It was intercepted,” an Israeli army spokesman told AFP.
The militant group said on Telegram it was announcing the death of Mr Qubaisi “with great pride and honour”.
Fifteen people were wounded in the air strike on Ghobeiry, a southern suburb of Lebanon's capital, on Tuesday afternoon. Israel said it was aimed at Mr Qubaisi, who commanded several Hezbollah divisions, including the precision-guided missile unit. The Israeli army held him responsible for an attack in 2000 that killed three of its soldiers.
Several top Hezbollah commanders have been killed in recent Israeli attacks, including Ibrahim Aqil, who died in an air strike on a residential building in Beirut on Friday. Dozens of people were killed in the attack, including children.
The Israeli army also targeted senior commander Ali Karaki in an air strike on Beirut's suburb of Dahieh on Monday, but Hezbollah denied he was killed.
Dozens of people died and about 3,000 were wounded when pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded last week.
Shortly after Mr Qubaisi's death was confirmed, Israel intercepted a surface-to-surface missile near Tel Aviv, described by Israeli media as the first Hezbollah launch towards central Israel since the group began firing across the border last October.
Hezbollah said it launched a Qader 1 ballistic missile “targeting the Mossad headquarters in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, which is the headquarters responsible for assassinating leaders and blowing up pagers and wireless devices”.
Sirens sounded across Tel Aviv, Netanya and other parts of central Israel but no casualties or damage were immediately reported.
Rockets were also fired at the northern Carmel region. Israel's national electricity provider, which is based in the area, said Hezbollah fired at a “strategic facility” but did not do any damage.
At least 569 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel intensified air strikes across the country on Monday, hitting dozens of towns and villages across the south and in the Bekaa valley.
About 500,000 Lebanese have been displaced as a result of Israel's military offensives, its Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said in New York on Wednesday.
At least 51 people were killed in air strikes on about 280 sites across Lebanon on Wednesday, with attacks moving closer to Beirut.
Israel's army chief told troops on the northern border to prepare for a ground invasion after the military called up reservists for “operational activities” there.
In an apparent reference to the missile aimed at Tel Aviv, Lt Gen Herzi Halev said: “Today, Hezbollah expanded its range of fire, and later today, they will receive a very strong response. Prepare yourselves.”
To achieve the goal of returning the displaced citizens of northern Israel to their homes, “we are preparing the process of a manoeuvre,” he said.
Three people were killed and nine wounded in an air strike on the town of Maaysara, north of Beirut, according to state media. The village is located more than 100km from the border.
Four were killed and seven wounded in a strike on the town of Joun, near Sidon, while a strike on Ain Qana killed three people and wounded 13 others and another three people were killed in Bint Jbeil. Five more, including a baby, were killed in Tyre, a city close to the Israeli border.
State media reported new attacks every few minutes, with “widespread aggression” targeting the southern Nabatieh governorate.
The Israeli army’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said displaced civilians should not return their homes as Israel was continuing strikes.
“For your safety, do not return to your homes until further notice,” he said in a post to X.
Strikes were reported across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa overnight and at dawn on Wednesday, according to the state-run National News Agency.
At least 17 towns and villages in the south were also struck, including Kfar Kila, Habbouch, Alma Al Chaab, Harouf, Ain Qana, while “violent raids” and intense reconnaissance flights were reported in Bekaa.
Casualties were reported in attacks on Ain Qana, according to state media, with no death toll immediately available, while paramedics were wounded in an air strike that hit their ambulance in Habbouch.
The strikes on Lebanon come as Israel also continues bombardment on Gaza, where more than 41,400 people have been killed in almost a year of war.
A mother and her four children were among the latest fatalities in Rafah, killed in a Tuesday evening air strike, according to the Palestinian official news agency Wafa.
Six people were later killed in strikes on Rafah and the Nuseirat refugee camp.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
