BEIRUT // Syrian forces retreated from a rebel-held town yesterday, but violence continued elsewhere as Arab peace monitors in Syria completed their month-long assignment.
Arab League foreign ministers will meet on Sunday and consider extending the league's observer mission, officials said yesterday.
Adnan Al Khudeir, head of the Cairo operations room that handles reports by the monitors, told The Associated Press that observers will remain in Syria until a decision is made Sunday.
Another Arab League official said the mission could be extended for another month.
"There is a conviction even among Syria opponents that the extension is better than withdrawal," the official said.
Meanwhile, Syrian tanks and armoured vehicles pulled out of the town of Zabadani after days of clashes between troops and rebel soldiers.
"There is a cautious calm, but fear of another major assault being prepared against Zabadani," Fares Mohammad, an opposition activist, told The Associated Press by telephone. Mr Mohammed said about 100 army defectors were "protecting" the town west of Damascus.
Elsewhere, defectors reportedly killed a military security brigadier, Adel Mustafa. The soldiers who had defected had refused his orders to shoot at civilians in the Bab Qibli area of Homs, according to the Local Coordination Committees, an umbrella group of activists. The officer had previously overseen many killings and arrests, activists said.
More than 700 people are believed to have been killed since the monitors arrived to Syria on December 26. They were in the country to oversee compliance with an Arab peace plan to end the bloodshed - signed by the Syrian government - that called for troops to be pulled off the streets, political prisoners freed and talks to begin with opposition groups.
The mission has been criticised and accused of being exploited by authorities who have continued to use force against protesters. Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the US State Department, said on Wednesday that the observers had "not succeeded" in getting the Syrian government to meet its obligations.
Avaaz, a global campaigning organisation, said yesterday that its researchers had recorded 746 civilians killed in the past month. These figures could not be independently verified.
The group condemned what it called Syria's "complete failure" to comply with the Arab League plan and urged the United Nations Security Council to impose punitive measures against the regime of President Bashar Al Assad.
"Arab League observers have now observed Assad's brutality first hand," Ricken Patel, the executive director of Avaaz, said in a statement. "It's time for the Arab League to push for help from the UN Security Council to stop the horror-show in Syria."
There are growing calls for the Security Council to step in, but the UN body is split between those calling for tougher action and other countries, including Russia and China, who have said they are opposed to sanctions. The Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has said his country would block any attempts to obtain UN support for military intervention in Syria.
Qatar has proposed sending Arab troops to Syria to stop the violence, a suggestion that was categorically rejected by Damascus.
The Local Coordination Committees, a Syrian opposition group that documents the uprising and organises events on the ground, said at least 19 people were killed yesterday. These numbers also could not be independently confirmed.
The Syrian state news agency yesterday reported that a high-ranking member of the army and two soldiers were shot by "armed terrorist groups" in Hama. The government has said that 2,000 members of its security forces have been killed by foreign-backed terrorist groups since March.
The UN estimates that more than 5,400 people have been killed in the 10 months since protests against the Syrian regime spread to cities and towns across the country.
Now, it seems that an armed insurgency is gaining strength, with some warning of the possibility of a civil war.
The head of Syria's Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Shaqfa, said his group backed peaceful protests and said armed rebels should restrict their operations to defending demonstrations.
Mr Shaqfa also called for a no-fly zone over Syria and for the international community to "fully isolate" the Syrian regime.
"The Syrian people are determined. Nobody will go back to their homes unless Bashar [Al Assad] leaves," he told Reuters on Wednesday. "There is a determination and God willing the people will reach this goal."
zconstantine@thenational.ae
* With additional reports by Reuters and The Associated Press
Veil (Object Lessons)
Rafia Zakaria
Bloomsbury Academic
'The Batman'
Stars:Robert Pattinson
Director:Matt Reeves
Rating: 5/5
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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.”
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Saturday
Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (5.30pm kick-off UAE)
Bayer Leverkusen v Schalke (5.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Cologne (5.30pm)
Mainz v Arminia Bielefeld (5.30pm)
Augsburg v Hoffenheim (5.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Bayern Munich (8.30pm)
Borussia Monchengladbach v Freiburg (10.30pm)
Sunday
VfB Stuttgart v Werder Bremen (5.30pm)
Union Berlin v Hertha Berlin (8pm)
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
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WISH
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AndhaDhun
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Producer: Matchbox Pictures, Viacom18
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte, Anil Dhawan
Rating: 3.5/5
The years Ramadan fell in May
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
The five pillars of Islam
Company profile
Date started: January, 2014
Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
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.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
