A truce in Lebanon’s Ain Al Hilweh refugee camp will not be guaranteed until the militants behind the killing of a senior Palestinian commander are handed over to the Lebanese state, a Palestinian political source told The National on Wednesday.
The site is the largest refugee camp for Palestinians in Lebanon.
“The surrender of the criminals responsible for the assassination of Abu Ashraf Al Armoushi is required before a complete and total ceasefire can last in the camp,” the source said.
Eleven people were killed, dozens injured and at least 2,000 displaced in heavy fighting between Ain Al Hilweh’s most powerful governing faction, Fatah, and several militant groups, the UN Relief and Works Agency said.
The battles erupted following the assassination of Mr Al Armoushi and four of his bodyguards in an ambush on Sunday.
The attack followed a failed assassination attempt on an Islamist leader on Saturday that left one person dead.
The assailants were identified as members of the militant group Jund Al Sham “and takfiri gangs”, said Maj Gen Subhi Abu Arab, commander of the Palestinian National Security Forces in the Lebanese camps.
Takfiri is a term authorities usually associate with ISIS and other extremist groups.
By Wednesday afternoon, the fighting had mostly subsided save for occasional bursts of gunfire and shelling, camp residents told The National, as they waited to see whether the wanted groups would surrender the suspects.
Ola, a homemaker living near Ain Al Hilweh, expected the battle to erupt again at a moment’s notice.
“The way I see it, Jund Al Sham won’t surrender the killers. But this time it is a big crime. This time, they killed Armoushi,” she said. “I don’t think Fatah will go back on their word.”
She said hundreds of displaced families continued to shelter in schools and mosques in the coastal city of Saida, where Ain Al Hilweh is located.
“No one is returning to their homes yet because the situation is still pretty scary,” she said.
“Some people are just going back to check on their homes and the extent of the damage, checking for unexploded mortars. But they aren’t returning. There’s still a lot of fear.”
Ain Al Hilweh is home to more than 50,000 registered refugees. Many of them came from coastal towns in northern Palestine.
Notably, the camp is also home to some of the 30,000 Palestinian refugees displaced from the Nahr Al Bared camp, which was destroyed in 2007 during 15 weeks of fighting between the Lebanese army and extremist groups. Some of those militants expanded into Ain Al Hilweh following the conflict.
“They are completely outside the Palestinian national fabric: politically, intellectually and nationalistically,” the Palestinian political source told The National.
Although the extremist militants do have some Palestinian support, they are mostly “associated with takfiri groups from other Arab countries, like ISIS and Jabhat Al Nusra”, the source said, referring to an offshoot of Al Qaeda.
Ain Al Hilweh, which is also notorious for harbouring criminals, has been the site of a power struggle between Palestinian factions and a network of extremists for more than a decade.
Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps present fertile ground for such groups to flourish owing to a decades-old agreement that, for the most part, prevents Lebanon’s military from entering the camps.
According to the Palestinian official, the extremist groups have conducted numerous assassination operations in the past that led to clashes with Fatah’s security apparatus.
However this week’s battles were especially ferocious due to the high-profile target of the assassination, which Fatah officials have described as a “pre-planned ambush” and a “massacre”.
“The goal of the assassination operation was the control of Ain Al Hilweh by takfiri terrorist elements,” the Palestinian political source told The National.
“They want to change the political map and to be the launch point for takfiri groups in Lebanon.”
The official was insistent that those responsible for Mr Al Armoushi’s killing would have to surrender, saying that “terrorist elements” would not be tolerated in the camp.
Asked would happen if the killers were not handed to Lebanese authorities, he shook his head.
“They have to,” he said.
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TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20IPHONE%2014%20PLUS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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.”
Brief scores:
Toss: Northern Warriors, elected to field first
Bengal Tigers 130-1 (10 ov)
Roy 60 not out, Rutherford 47 not out
Northern Warriors 94-7 (10 ov)
Simmons 44; Yamin 4-4
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
UAE Division 1
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 12-24 Abu Dhabi Saracens
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
SNAPSHOT
While Huawei did launch the first smartphone with a 50MP image sensor in its P40 series in 2020, Oppo in 2014 introduced the Find 7, which was capable of taking 50MP images: this was done using a combination of a 13MP sensor and software that resulted in shots seemingly taken from a 50MP camera.
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Why seagrass matters
- Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
- Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
- Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
- Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality
