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At least nine people were killed as Israel carried out shelling and air strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs and Lebanon's south on Sunday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned he would exact a “heavy price” for a drone attack on his home.
Two people were killed in an attack on a house in the southern town of Burj Rahhal, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported, with another two people killed in a strike on Deir Qanoun Ras Al Ain, near Tyre. A further five people died in the nearby towns of Srifa and Kafr Dunin.
Strikes and shelling were reported across the south and on Beirut's southern suburbs, where several attacks took place near a hospital and mosque in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood. The Israeli army issued a displacement order for Haret Hreik residents at about 4am local time, ordering people in the area and the Al Hadath neighbourhood to leave “immediately”. The military claimed it had targeted a Hezbollah intelligence headquarters and underground weapons store.
Israeli attacks have now killed 2,448 people and wounded 11,471 across Lebanon since cross-border fighting began in October last year, caused by the war in Gaza. Most have been killed since Israel launched an all-out war on Lebanon last month and a ground invasion on October 1.
Thirty people were killed in 82 different attacks across Lebanon on Saturday, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Sunday morning. The latest assault comes a day after a drone was launched at Mr Netanyahu's private home in the coastal town of Caesarea, in what he later described as a Hezbollah assassination plot. Mr Netanyahu and his family were not home at the time.
“The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “I say to Iran and its proxies in its axis of evil: Anyone who tries to harm Israel’s citizens will pay a heavy price.”
While the militant group has not publicly claimed responsibility for the attack, Iran's mission to the UN denied Tehran was behind it and said it was carried out by Hezbollah.
The drone was one of three launched from Lebanon. Two were intercepted but the other made it through Israel’s sophisticated air defence systems without activating alarms. The house, in the affluent town of Caesarea, sustained superficial damage, according to media reports. Israel’s military censor initially placed reporting restrictions on the incident and some details remained unclear.
Officials blamed Iran for the strike and said the attack constituted a significant escalation. Gideon Sa’ar, a member of Mr Netanyahu's security cabinet, also pointed the finger at Lebanon. “The fact these attacks were carried out by an Iranian proxy – Hezbollah – does not absolve Lebanon of responsibility,” he said.
Members of Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party accused political opponents of not condemning the strike. “More than 24 hours have passed since the Iranian assassination attempt on the Prime Minister of Israel, and the heads of the opposition, Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz, have not published a single word of condemnation against our enemies,” a spokesman for the party said. Mr Gantz said the criticism was “petty politics”.
The drone attack came a week after four soldiers were killed and 58 wounded in another Hezbollah drone strike on a military base in northern Israel.
Sirens sounded across northern Israel on Sunday morning, including in the northern city of Haifa, which has previously been targeted by Hezbollah rocket fire. One rocket was intercepted from Lebanon, the Israeli army said, with two more landing in an open area shortly afterwards.
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Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
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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.”
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Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
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Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
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