A US air strike has killed a senior operative of an Al Qaeda-affiliated group in north-west Syria, the US military said on Friday, as Washington continues an opaque drone and special forces campaign targeting militants in the region.
The strike resulted in the death of Muhammad Salah Al Za'bir on Thursday, according to US Central Command, America's military headquarters in the Middle East. He was a prominent member of militant group Hurras Al Din, which was formed in Syria in 2018, two years after a split between Jabhat Al Nusra – a predecessor of Syria’s ruling Hayat Tahrir Al Sham – and Al Qaeda’s central leadership.
Since around 2015, the US has waged a shadowy drone and special forces programme in Syria led by the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command. Initially it launched attacks on ISIS but Al Qaeda remnants have also become a significant target.
In December last year, the US launched dozens of air strikes against ISIS in Syria after former president Bashar Al Assad’s regime collapsed. ISIS are now at a low ebb in the country, ground down by several opponents, from HTS to Kurdish militias backed by the US and local tribes.
“The air strike is part of Centcom's ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organise, and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the US, our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond,” Centcom said.
Last week, Hurras Al Din said it had disbanded, apparently on the orders of central Al Qaeda leadership. The group, which includes foreign fighters, had been under pressure in northern Syria for years after clashing with HTS, who arrested and assassinated scores of its leaders, part of a power struggle in Idlib.
Idlib was the last Syrian rebel stronghold until the rapid collapse of the Assad regime in December. Before then, experts say Hurras Al Din and HTS co-ordinated on some operations, before their power struggle began around 2021.
After HTS consolidated control of Idlib and allied with smaller rebel groups, it broke out in a lightning offensive last month that imploded Mr Al Assad’s regime.
'Ninja missiles'
Hurras Al Din has also been hit sporadically by a US drone campaign, which also attacked ISIS leaders, often in densely populated areas.
To reduce civilian casualties, the US air campaign has sometimes relied on “knife bomb” Hellfire R9X missiles, also known as the “ninja missile”, which features an array of blades and no explosive warhead.
Images on social media of a destroyed car said to belong to Mr Al Za'bir suggest such a weapon may have been used in the attack that killed him, because the body of the vehicle is sliced and mangled and there are no signs of fire or shrapnel associated with explosively armed Hellfire missiles.
The R9X is first thought to have been used in 2017 against Abu Khayr Al Masri, an Al Qaeda commander in Idlib. Since then, the “kinetic” weapon has also been used to kill Al Qaeda commander Ayman Zawahiri in Afghanistan in 2022. That attack followed a disastrous US strike on a suspected ISIS hideout in Kabul that killed 10 civilians during the city's fall to the Taliban in 2021.
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
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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The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
