The Syrian army was preparing to break a siege of an army garrison in what is the last rebel bastion on the eastern outskirts of Damascus, residents and witnesses said on Wednesday.
They said the army, supported by Russian airpower, was amassing elite forces for an assault on the Military Vehicles Administration, which is besieged by rebels. At least 200 troops were believed to be trapped there.
Since Sunday, rebels mainly belonging to the Salafist Ahrar Al Sham faction have extended their control of parts of the sprawling army base in Harasta that penetrates Eastern Ghouta, the last rebel bastion around the capital.
In the last week, Eastern Ghouta's rebel towns and villages have suffered escalating aerial attacks.
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State media did not report the assault but said "terrorists" - a term used by the government to describe all rebels - had fired mortars on residential areas in Harasta and the army responded by strikes in Eastern Ghouta that led to losses in the ranks of the insurgents.
Civil defence sources said that in four days of heavy aerial strikes since Friday, 38 civilians were killed and at least 147 people have been injured. Five civilians were killed on Tuesday.
The base has long been used to strike at the densely populated Eastern Ghouta in an attempt to force the rebel enclave to submission. More than 300,000 people there have lived under siege by army troops since 2013.
The advances take rebels closer to the heart of the capital again after they were pushed out of their remaining pockets last year.
The army setback came against a backdrop of successive battlefield victories that allowed Syrian government forces with heavy reliance on Russia and Iran to regain large tracts of territory from insurgents.
Residents said at least 30 aerial strikes hit residential areas of Eastern Ghouta on Tuesday. Shelling of a market in the city of Douma, the main urban centre in the Ghouta, left one dead and scores injured.
"The front lines of Ghouta are witnessing battles and clashes and big losses inflicted on [Syrian president] Al Assad's forces and his militias," said Hamza Biriqdar, the spokesman for Jaish Al Islam, a main rebel faction.
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Further northwest, rebels were retreating from more villages seized by the army in southern Idlib province and the adjoining eastern Hama countryside.
The strikes have escalated in the last week on this major front, with at least 50 villages retaken by the Syrian army and its allies in their push into the last major province in rebel hands that borders Turkey.
The intensity of strikes by Russia and the Syrian Air Force has driven tens of thousands of villagers in these areas to flee to the relative safety of the northern part of Idlib province near the Turkish border, where many shelter in makeshift tents.
Meanwhile a Russian helicopter crashed in Syria on New Year's Eve killing both pilots following a technical fault, Moscow's defence ministry said on Wednesday.
The Mi-24 military helicopter was flying to Hama, northwestern Syria, and there was no firing from the ground, agencies quote the ministry as saying.
"Both pilots died in a hard landing 15 km from the air base," the ministry said, adding that a technician had been injured and taken to another air base for emergency treatment.
The investigative blog Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) quoted a post from Forumavia aviation forum saying the helicopter had tripped over power line wires and crashed while escorting a convoy.
The post did not specify whether the helicopter was escorting a humanitarian convoy or combat unit and the defence ministry did not give any further details.
Russia became involved in the multi-front conflict in September 2015, when it began an aerial campaign in support of president Bashar Al Assad's military.
Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu last month said the military had completed the partial withdrawal from Syria ordered by President Vladimir Putin, but Russia will maintain a presence in the country, including three battalions and two bases.
Moscow acknowledged in recent months that its special forces are also active on the ground in the offensive against Islamic State jihadists.
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.”
WORLD CUP SEMI-FINALS
England v New Zealand (Saturday, 12pm)
Wales v South Africa (Sunday, 1pm)
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
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