BEIRUT // The black-turbanned leader of Hizbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, made a rare open-air appearance in Beirut yesterday, saying his militant Shiite group was gaining weapons, strength and members by the day.
His brief appearance at a rally in a Shiite neighbourhood to mark the holy day of Ashura was seen by analysts as a show of strength in light of the chaos gripping Hizbollah's main sponsor, Syria, and a gesture to rally the morale of the group's membership.
"Day after day our numbers are increasing and our training, our confidence and strength are increasing," Mr Nasrallah said. "Our weapons are not rotting. We are always renewing and getting more."
It was Mr Nasrallah's first appearance at a public gathering since 2008. He has rarely been seen in public since Hizbollah battled Israel in a month-long war in 2006, fearing Israeli assassination.
Since then, he has communicated with his followers and gives news conferences mostly via satellite video link.
"I have chosen to be among you today for a few minutes ... so the whole world can hear and we can renew our pledge," he said, briefly addressing the crowds from a podium before moving to an disclosed location to deliver the main part of his televised speech.
Hizbollah's weapons are a contentious issue in Lebanon. The group insists it needs to maintain its powerful arsenal to ward off any threat from Israel but the weapons also make it the most potent military force in Lebanon — far stronger than even the national army.
Talal Atrissi, a political commentator and professor at Lebanese University, said Mr Nasrallah's appearance would boost the morale of Hizbollah supporters.
"Today there are lots of opinions and rumours that Hizbollah is weaker than before, because of what happened in Syria," he said. "I suppose that Nasrallah wanted to show the opposite and insisted on the position that Hizbollah is well organised and armed."
Analysts said Hizbollah, whose popularity extends beyond Lebanon's Shiite minority, has been tarnished by its association with Syria and the crackdown on the nine-month uprising against president Bashar Al Assad in which more than 4,000 people have been killed.
Mr Nasrallah yesterday reiterated his support for the Al Assad government, calling for reforms but stating that the target of the revolt in Syria was the "regime of resistance", one that is anti-Israel
"We say yes to addressing all of the reasons behind problems in Syria and yes to reforms which the Syrian leadership agreed to," he said.
"But there are those who don't want peace or dialogue in Syria, who want to compensate for their defeat in Iraq, who want to make up for their potential strategic losses in Egypt by changing the situation in Syria," he said in an apparent reference to the United States.
But it was Mr Nasrallah's singling out of the Syrian opposition that was one of the most compelling aspects of his speech, said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a Lebanese writer known for her work on Hizbollah.
"Since [the revolt began in] March, he hasn't criticised the opposition per se. Today this was really quite radical in that he singled out [Burhan] Ghalioun [head of the Syrian National Council] by name," she said.
Mr Nasrallah blasted the US administration and said what he called the "American-Israeli project" was the greatest threat to the region.
He also alluded to the recent unravelling of a CIA network in Lebanon.
"The US intelligence became spies for the sake of defending Israel," he said. "We have spying networks we are uncovering, as well as continuous Israeli violations.
"We stress that the formula - army, people and resistance - is the advantage we have to defend Lebanon."
Tens of thousands flooded the streets of south Beirut yesterday to mark Ashura, one of the most important dates on the Shiite religious calendar commemorating the 7th century death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. The event is a mournful occasion, marked with street processions when some followers rhythmically beat their chests.
"This day is still very significant to us, because of the death of someone very important and the tragic way he died," said Deema Hani, a 17-year-old from Beirut, who was among the crowds that started gathering in the Hizbollah stronghold of Dahiyeh early yesterday morning.
zconstantine@thenational.ae
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
ASSASSIN'S%20CREED%20MIRAGE
%3Cp%3E%0DDeveloper%3A%20Ubisoft%20Bordeaux%0D%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Ubisoft%0D%3Cbr%3EConsoles%3A%20PlayStation%204%26amp%3B5%2C%20PC%20and%20Xbox%20Series%20S%26amp%3BX%0D%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
RESULTS
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
Winner: Raghida, Szczepan Mazur (jockey), Ibrahim Al Hadhrami (trainer)
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
Winner: AF Alareeq, Connor Beasley, Ahmed Al Mehairbi
6pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-2 Group 3 (PA) Dh300,000 2,200m
Winner: Basmah, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel
6.30pm: Liwa Oasis Group 2 (PA) Dh300,000 1,400m
Winner: AF Alwajel, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,600m
Winner: SS Jalmod, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,600m
Winner: Trolius, Ryan Powell, Simon Crisford
MATCH INFO
New Zealand 176-8 (20 ovs)
England 155 (19.5 ovs)
New Zealand win by 21 runs
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
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 more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
