BEIRUT // Al Qaeda’s affiliate Al Nusra Front has seized three more villages from other Syrian rebel groupss, including one backed by the US, in Idlib.
Al Nusra took control of Sufuhun, Al Fateera and Hizareen in the north-western province, the Syrian Observatory for Human rights said on Friday.
The advances were the latest by Al Nusra against moderate and Islamist rebels in the province after clashes that began a week ago, and came a day after US airstrikes hit two Al Nusra compounds in Idlib.
Three villages had been under the control of various rebel groups including the Hazm movement, which has received US-made weapons, said the Britain-based Observatory, which collects information from activists inside Syria.
Last week, Al Nusra seized the town of Khan Al Subul from Hazm and the Idlib bastion of another western-backed rebel grouping, the Syria Revolutionaries Front.
It is not known whether Al Nusra has seized the US-made TOW anti-tank missiles received by Hazm.
Elsewhere in Syria, clashes between regime forces and Islamist fighters in southern Syria killed at least 40 people on Thursday, the Observatory said.
The monitor said at least 26 members of the pro-regime National Defence Forces and 14 Islamist fighters, including from Al Nusra, were killed in Beit Tima, a majority-Druze region.
There has been fighting between regime and rebel forces in the region, in south-eastern Damascus province, for more than a year, but Thursday’s toll was the highest in a single day since violence began there.
Syrian moderate and Islamist rebels have in the past allied with Al Nusra in battles against both the Syrian regime and extremist militant group ISIL.
But since July, sporadic clashes have erupted between the Al Qaeda affiliate and other rebel groups, particularly in Idlib.
The fighting began shortly after Al Nusra’s chief announced the group’s intention to establish an Islamic “emirate,” intended to rival the “caliphate” established by ISIL, which has overrun large areas of Syria and Iraq and is being targeted in airstrikes by a US-led international coalition.
The US military central command said on Friday that the colaition conducted eight airstrikes against ISIL in Syria in the past three days and six in Iraq.
Seven strikes near the Syrian border town of Kobani, a regular target for the attacks, hit three small ISIL units, seven fighting positions and destroyed an artillery piece. The town on the Turkish-Syrian border is being defended against an ISIL onslaught by Kurdish fighters, including Iraqi peshmerga who entered the weeks-long battle earlier this week.
Another strike near Tall Abyad destroyed a weapons stockpile.
In Iraq, an airstrike near Fallujah destroyed two bulldozers, while strikes near Ramadi, south-east of Fallujah and north-west of Haditha destroyed or damaged ISIL vehicles, the central command said.
The coalition also hit a small ISIL unit and damaged a building near the strategic northern town of Baiji, where Iraqi forces said they had made major gains against ISIL on Friday.
Government troops now hold “more than 70 percent” of the Baiji – including neighbourhoods in the south, east and north – and are battling to capture the rest, a senior Iraqi officer said.
A brigadier general said “major progress” had been made in Baiji, and the Iraqi flag had been raised over important buildings including the police headquarters.
However, a senior police officer was killed when a bomber detonated an explosives-rigged tanker truck at a checkpoint in the Al Sinai area of Baiji that was retaken more than a week ago. Three other policeman died along with Major General Faisal Ahmed, and six were wounded.
Iraqi forces entered Baiji, which had been under ISIL control for months, on October 31 after fighting their way up from the south.
Baiji lies on the main highway to Iraq’s ISIL-controlled second city Mosul, and the town’s recapture would also help to further isolate militants in the city of Tikrit, to the south.
The Baiji assault could also open the way to breaking a months-old jihadist siege of government forces defending Iraq’s largest oil refinery, which is located near the town.
* Agence France-Presse
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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