WASHINGTON // As the devastating war in Syria entered its fifth year on Sunday, the US said it would have to negotiate with Syrian president Bashar Al Assad to “reignite” new peace talks.
It came as three teenage boys from Britain who were believed to be on their way to Syria to join extremists, were detained in Turkey and quickly returned to the UK where they were arrested.
After years of insisting Mr Assad’s days were numbered, US secretary of state John Kerry conceded that Washington would have to negotiate with the iron-fisted leader to end the war.
“Well, we have to negotiate in the end. We’ve always been willing to negotiate in the context of the Geneva I process,” Mr Kerry said in an interview with CBS television aired on Sunday.
Diplomacy has been stalled, with two rounds of peace talks achieving no progress and even a proposal for a local ceasefire in the second city Aleppo fizzling out.
Deputy state department spokeswoman Marie Harf, however, denied there was any shift in US policy.
“@JohnKerry repeated long-standing policy that we need negotiated process w/regime at table - did not say we wld negotiate directly w/Assad,” she said in a message on her Twitter account.
Mr Kerry acknowledged that it would need increased pressure on Mr Assad “to make it clear to him that there is a determination by everybody to seek that political outcome and change his calculation about negotiating”.
“That’s underway right now. And I am convinced that, with the efforts of our allies and others, there will be increased pressure on Assad,” he said.
The conflict began as an anti-government uprising, with protesters taking to the streets on March 15, 2011, inspired by similar revolts in Egypt and Tunisia.
But a fierce government crackdown on the demonstrations prompted a militarisation of the uprising and its descent into the brutal multi-front conflict that it is today.
Four years on, the country’s infrastructure has been decimated, and economists say the economy has been set back by some 30 years.
Despite international outrage, and allegations that his regime used chemical weapons against its own people in August 2013, Mr Assad has clung to power.
His forces have consolidated their grip on the capital Damascus, where 18 more people were killed in more regime aire raids on Sunday and more than 100 injured according to the monitor group.
And Mr Assad’s forces are now moving to encircle rebels in Aleppo to the north.
The assaults have been aided by the government’s increasing reliance on crude barrel bombs, which Mr Assad denies using despite extensive documentation.
His government has been emboldened by both its military successes and an apparent shift in international rhetoric.
Calls for his resignation have been notably more muted as international attention shifts to the threat posed by the extremists ISIL group.
Diplomats describe a new willingness to countenance a role for Mr Assad in Syria’s future, although Washington still insists that he has lost all legitimacy and must step down.
“Assad didn’t want to negotiate,” Mr Kerry told CBS television, about the last failed rounds of peace talks in Geneva.
“What we’re pushing for is to get him to come and do that,” he replied when asked if he would negotiate with Mr Assad.
Russia, a key Assad ally, is floating its own dialogue process, and will host talks in Moscow in April, but it remains unclear if the internationally recognised opposition will attend.
Mr Kerry met with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva in early March and discussed whether a new path to peace could be found.
“We are working very hard with other interested parties to see if we can reignite a diplomatic outcome,” Mr Kerry told CBS News.
His comments were flashed on Syrian state television.
But international attention has largely shifted away from the war to fighting the ISIL group which has captured a large swath of territory in Iraq and Syria, terrorising the population and carrying out horrific beheadings and murders.
Mr Kerry has said Washington’s top priority is defeating ISIL.
On Sunday, UK police arrested three teens believed to be planning to join extremists in Syria.
The trio left Britain several days ago, and were detained in Istanbul after British officials notified Turkish authorities. The three were arrested on suspicion of the preparation of terrorism acts and were in custody at a central London police station, police said. Their names have not been released. Two are aged 17 and one is 19.
They are believed to be the latest in a growing number of Britons trying to travel to extremist-held territory inside Syria.
Last month, three British schoolgirls left the U.K. for Turkey and, police believe, crossed the border into Syria to join ISIL.
* Agence France-Presse, with additional reporting from Associated Press
MATCH INFO
Tottenham 4 (Alli 51', Kane 50', 77'. Aurier 73')
Olympiakos 2 (El-Arabi 06', Semedo')
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Engine: 6.5-litre V12
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 770hp @ 8,500rpm
Torque: 720Nm @ 6,750rpm
Fuel economy: 19.6L / 100km
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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
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 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
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COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: SimpliFi
Started: August 2021
Founder: Ali Sattar
Based: UAE
Industry: Finance, technology
Investors: 4DX, Rally Cap, Raed, Global Founders, Sukna and individuals
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.”
Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
UJDA CHAMAN
Produced: Panorama Studios International
Directed: Abhishek Pathak
Cast: Sunny Singh, Maanvi Gagroo, Grusha Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla
Rating: 3.5 /5 stars
The biog
Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology
Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India
Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur
How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993
Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters
Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo
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
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