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Yemen's Houthi rebels have vowed to attack Israeli ships in the strategic waters of the Red Sea and to continue striking Israel with missiles and drones, as long as the war in Gaza continues.
The heavily armed group has emerged as a threat to Israel despite being 1,600km away, marking the opening of an off-script front in the conflict by one of the Iran-backed militias in the Middle East.
Both the Houthis and the Hamas group that controls Gaza are supported by Iran.
The Houthis, who are in control of Yemen's capital and some regions amid a civil war, claimed responsibility for a series of missiles and drones that the US Navy and Israeli defence systems intercepted.
The Yemeni rebels’ leader Abdul-Malik Al Houthi vowed on Tuesday to continue with the attacks and to strike Israeli ships passing through the strategic trade and oil tankers’ routes.
“We will continue to plan for additional operations. We can't stop,” he said.
“Our eyes are open. We will monitor and locate Israeli ships in the Red Sea and we will not hesitate to target them.”
Up until the end of 2018, the Houthis frequently used ballistic missiles they captured from army depots.
But in the past five years, they have shifted to small, long-range, explosive unmanned aircraft that can evade radar detection.
The Houthis have also indicated in the past years that they are capable of launching attacks against ships by using remotely controlled boats carrying explosives.
Earlier this month, the Israeli military said it had deployed missile boats in the Red Sea as reinforcements, after the Houthis confirmed they had launched missile and drone attacks on Israel.
Images shared by the Israeli army showed Saar-class corvettes patrolling near Eilat port in the Red Sea, which Israel considers a new front as its war in Gaza draws retaliation from Iran-aligned, pro-Hamas forces elsewhere in the region.
Iran and Israel have previously accused each other of carrying out several attacks on each other's ships in the Red Sea.
The launch of the Houthi missiles and drones coincides with pro-Iranian militant groups attacking US bases hosting American troops in Syria and Iraq.
Last week, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah praised recent attacks by Iran's proxies in Yemen and Iraq, which sparked fears of a regional conflagration.
“If the Americans want these operations against them to stop [in Iraq and Syria], they must stop the aggression on Gaza,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tim Lenderking, the US special envoy to Yemen, warned the war in Gaza is threatening progress towards peace in Yemen and the prospect of the country being drawn into the conflict between Israel and Hamas is his “worst fear.”
He later said that peace efforts there must not be wasted as Washington works to contain the war in Gaza from escalating across the Middle East.
Israel’s air strikes and land offensive have killed more than 11,000 people in Gaza, including at least 4,500 children, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.
Hamas launched attacks on October 7 in Israel, which killed 1,200 Israeli soldiers and civilians.
The Houthis said on Tuesday that they would continue attacking Israel's interests as long as it is fighting against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave.
“We will spare no effort at the military level with the available means,” Mr Al Houthi said.
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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Twenty20 squad: Babar Azam (captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Musa Khan, Shadab Khan, Usman Qadir, Wahab Riaz
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Power: Combined output 920hp
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