The US military covered up air strikes in Syria that killed up to 64 women and children, during a battle with ISIS in 2019, a report has said.
The two air strikes near the town of Baghuz were ordered by a classified American special operations unit tasked with ground operations in Syria, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
The newspaper said US Central Command, which oversaw air operations in Syria, acknowledged the strikes for the first time this week and said they were justified.
On Saturday, Central Command reiterated the account it gave the newspaper that 80 people were killed in the strikes including 16 ISIS fighters and four civilians.
The military said it was unclear if the other 60 people were civilians, partly because women and children could have been combatants.
In Saturday's statement, the military said the strikes were "legitimate self-defence", proportional and that "appropriate steps were taken to rule out the presence of civilians."
"We abhor the loss of innocent life and take all possible measures to prevent them. In this case, we self-reported and investigated the strike according to our own evidence and take full responsibility for the unintended loss of life," Central Command said.
'At least one child armed'
The number of civilians among the 60 fatalities could not be determined because "multiple armed women and at least one armed child were observed" in video of the events, it said. The majority of the 60 were likely combatants, the command said.
The strikes took place while Syrian Democratic Forces were under heavy fire and in danger of being overrun and the SDF had reported the area clear of civilians.
The Defence Department's inspector general launched an inquiry into the incident on March 18, 2019, but its report was ultimately "stripped" of any mention of the bombing and a thorough, independent probe never took place, the New York Times said.
The newspaper said its report was based on confidential documents and descriptions of classified reports, as well as interviews with personnel directly involved.
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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.”
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