Iran provides military support to President Bashar Al Assad by way of regular clandestine flights between Tehran and Damascus, according to a Syrian official with knowledge of air traffic between the two capitals.
Up to three supply flights occur each week between the two cities, none of them appearing on public timetables, said the official, who has access to certain details of air traffic in and out of Damascus International Airport.
The flights typically take place at night, with no weekly schedule set in advance.
“There are private flights every week, sometimes three a week, and they are controlled by an Iranian officer in Damascus,” the Syrian official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the information.
“Everyone must follow this [Iranian] man’s orders. We have been told he is the second most important man in Syria and that we are to do as he says without question,” said the official, who continues to support the Assad regime and work for the Syrian government in Damascus.
The identity of the Iranian officer is not publicly known.
“We have not been told openly, but we know the flights are being organised by the [Iranian] Revolutionary Guard,” he said.
The aid flights have been taking place “for months”, the official said. He did not specify the date they began and also said he was not privy to any specific information about what was carried on board the aircraft.
However, another Syrian who has regular access to Damascus International Airport said at least some of the Iranian aircraft had been seen transporting fighters to help regime forces battle rebels.
While Syria and Iran have made no secret of their close alliance, including financial and political links, details of military cooperation are carefully guarded. Iran has denied deploying any army personnel in Syria, while Syrian officials have rejected allegations that the regime is dependent on Iranian muscle in its war against foreign-backed insurgents.
The US, a cautious supporter of Syrian rebels, has long complained about flights between Iran and Syria, saying Tehran airlifts soldiers and weapons to the Assad regime.
Last year, in the final months of her tenure as US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton struck an agreement with Iraq to intercept and search Iranian planes flying through its airspace, a measure that the government in Baghdad – which has close ties to Tehran – has shown little desire to implement.
As of March, only two aircraft passing between Iran and Syria had been searched, US officials said earlier this year, with nothing but humanitarian aid found on board.
In August last year, the US joined Syrian opposition groups in accusing Iran of training pro-Assad militia forces, some of them Syrian but others Shiite volunteers from across the Islamic world, eager to join what they see as a war between Sunnis and Shiites.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that thousands of Shiite militiamen had received training at a base near Tehran ahead of their deployment to the frontlines of the civil war.
Shiite militia groups, including Lebanon’s Hizbollah, have played a key role in bolstering Syrian regime forces, who have weakened by defections and stretched by a nationwide conflict, most visibly in the battle for Qusayr in April and May.
Pro-regime fighters are moved between Iran and Syria without normal ticketing, immigration and boarding procedures, the Syrian with regular access to Damascus airport said.
The man, who is not involved in the revolt against the Assad regime, described how earlier this month, he watched as dozens of Iran-linked fighters were taken off one of the unregistered flights after a mechanical failure grounded the aircraft at the Damascus International Airport.
Instead of taking off under cover of darkness, the flight was delayed and the passengers were transferred to an alternative civilian aircraft bound for the Iranian capital.
“A green military bus escorted by Syrian soldiers moved all of these men from an unmarked plane on to another plane which was going to Tehran,” the man said.
“It was daylight, it was about 8am, and I could see them clearly - a bus full of men, they were in civilian clothes and didn’t have weapons but they looked like soldiers. There were no women, no children. I was told they were ‘with the Iranians’ and no one was allowed near enough to talk to them,” he said.
Several hours after the flight departed there were angry exchanges between Syrian officials over the way the transfer had been handled, he said, with a senior officer apparently upbraiding junior officials for allowing the flight to leave during normal working hours, while the airport was open to civilian traffic.
A former Syrian military intelligence officer, who broke ranks with the regime more than a year ago but who remains in contact with some current intelligence staff, said he doubted claims that the secret flights were ferrying Iranian fighters to Syria.
“Iran is supporting Syria politically, financially and logistically, but it is not true they are flying three airliners full of fighters each week,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“There is misunderstanding and a lot of exaggeration about Iranian involvement on the ground in Syria. The truth is that Assad’s army remains powerful, they still have the battalions and the men they need to fight. They really just need money to pay for the war,” he said.
“Iranian involvement gets exaggerated by people who are looking at Syria with a very sectarian agenda,” he said.
Damascus International Airport was shut down in December after rebels closed in on the outskirts of the airport perimeter and declared that all flights into and out of Syrian capital were legitimate military targets, on the grounds that Iran and Russia were flying in men and materiel to help Mr Al Assad’s war effort.
The airport has reopened since, although services have been cut back heavily, with carriers reluctant to fly into a war zone. Sporadic international flights continue between Syria and Iran, other Middle Eastern countries and eastern Europe.
Rebels, fighting against a renewed offensive by pro-regime units in the area, have kept up their efforts to attack the airport. Last Tuesday, their rockets struck the perimeter of the airport, according to opposition activists.
psands@thenational.ae
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
SHAITTAN
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RESULTS
Lightweight (female)
Sara El Bakkali bt Anisha Kadka
Bantamweight
Mohammed Adil Al Debi bt Moaz Abdelgawad
Welterweight
Amir Boureslan bt Mahmoud Zanouny
Featherweight
Mohammed Al Katheeri bt Abrorbek Madaminbekov
Super featherweight
Ibrahem Bilal bt Emad Arafa
Middleweight
Ahmed Abdolaziz bt Imad Essassi
Bantamweight (female)
Ilham Bourakkadi bt Milena Martinou
Welterweight
Mohamed Mardi bt Noureddine El Agouti
Middleweight
Nabil Ouach bt Ymad Atrous
Welterweight
Nouredine Samir bt Marlon Ribeiro
Super welterweight
Brad Stanton bt Mohamed El Boukhari
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Infobox
Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the next stage of qualifying, in Malaysia in August
Results
UAE beat Iran by 10 wickets
Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia by eight wickets
Oman beat Bahrain by nine wickets
Qatar beat Maldives by 106 runs
Monday fixtures
UAE v Kuwait, Iran v Saudi Arabia, Oman v Qatar, Maldives v Bahrain
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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.”
