JERUSALEM // Israeli warplanes struck nine Syrian army positions on the Golan Heights overnight after a Syrian missile killed a teenager on the Israeli-held side of the plateau, the army said on Monday.
It was the second time in three months that Israel had publicly acknowledged striking targets inside Syria, and came just hours after the attack killed a 13-year-old Israeli boy.
"The IDF (army) targeted nine Syrian army positions in response to the earlier attack that originated in Syria killing an Israeli teenager and injuring two other Israeli civilians," an army spokesman said.
Sunday’s incident, in which a Syrian anti-tank missile struck an Israeli defence ministry car, was the most serious escalation along the ceasefire line since the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011.
The sites targeted in the air strikes included Syrian military headquarters and launching positions, the military said, noting that direct hits were confirmed.
There were no immediate reports of Syrian casualties.
“We hold Bashar Al Assad’s regime and the Syrian army responsible for what happens from their territory, and will continue to react forcefully to any provocation”, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement.
He said there had been increasing attacks on Israel from Syria, and vowed to extract a “heavy price” from anyone trying to attack Israeli civilians and soldiers – “whether the Syrian army or terror operatives acting from Syrian territory”.
The boy killed in Sunday morning’s attack was the son of an Israeli defence ministry contractor and was identified as Mohammed Qaraqra, an Arab Israeli from Arabeh village in northern Israel.
The defence ministry said he was killed when a blast hit the car he was in with his father and another contractor, both of whom were wounded.
An army spokeswoman confirmed on Monday that the car had been hit by a Syrian anti-tank missile.
Military sources said it was a defence ministry vehicle used by workers constructing a fence along the ceasefire line.
“Israel’s enemies will stop at nothing. They do not shrink from attacking civilians and from killing children,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a telephone conversation with the boy’s father.
“They do not distinguish between Jewish and non-Jewish citizens of the State of Israel,” he added.
“Yesterday’s attack was an unprovoked act of aggression against Israel, and a direct continuation of recent attacks that occurred in the area,” Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, the army’s foreign press spokesman, said after the air strikes.
The attack was “the most substantial incident on the border with Syria since the beginning of the civil war”, he had said earlier, noting it was the first time an Israeli had been killed.
Israeli tanks had immediately returned fire at Syrian army posts shortly after the attack, which took place near Tel Khazeka, just south of Quneitra in the centre of the Golan plateau.
Israel, which is still technically at war with Syria, seized 1,200 square kilometres of the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.
Around 510 square kilometres of the plateau remain under Syrian control.
Since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011, the plateau has been tense, with a growing number of projectiles, mostly stray, hitting the Israeli side and prompting occasional armed responses.
Over the past year, Israel has reportedly carried out a series of raids on Syrian and Hezbollah targets, but has not officially acknowledged doing so.
However in March, the army confirmed its warplanes had attacked Syrian army positions just hours after a bomb wounded four Israeli soldiers on the Golan, one severely.
* Agence France-Presse
THE SPECS
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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.”
The%20specs
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
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Fixtures
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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
Company%20Profile
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Our legal advisor
Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
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The specs
Engine: 0.8-litre four cylinder
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On sale: Models from 1966 to 1970