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Renewed Israeli air strikes have killed a second Lebanese civilian and wounded more than eight people in north-eastern Lebanon's Baalbek-Hermel province on Tuesday, after Hezbollah fired a barrage of more than 100 rockets at several Israeli military posts in response to overnight strikes.
The series of Israeli raids on the district have dragged it into cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah since Monday evening – despite the area's physical distance from the frontier, where the majority of fighting has taken place.
At least one person was killed and many injured on Monday evening after several Israeli raids on Baalbek-Hermel, the second raid on the area since the start of the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah in October 8.
Baalbek-Hermel governor Bashir Khodr identified the person killed Monday evening as Mustafa Gharib, a football player and photographer from the town of Duris. The identity of the person killed on Tuesday is not yet known.
Both victims were civilians, according to the Baalbek city mayor Fuad Balouk.
The proximity of the attacks to the city of Baalbek is “a message of Israel widening the conflict in an effort to pressure Hezbollah, and citizens, and the resistance in general," he told The National.
Although launched deep inside Lebanon, the strikes were still within the established but unspoken rules of engagement between Israel and Hezbollah, he said.
"The problem is those boundaries keep expanding,” he added.
The Baalbek area was initially bombarded two weeks ago for the first time. It was the deepest Israeli attack on Lebanon since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
The Israeli army said its air raids, in the area of Baalbek, "struck two Hezbollah military command centres" in response to the Lebanese group's rocket barrage.
"Hezbollah used these sites to store significant assets used to strengthen its weapons arsenal," an Israeli army statement said.
Hezbollah said its rocket attack on military sites in Israel's upper Galilee region were conducted "in response to the Israeli attacks on our people, villages and cities – most recently in the vicinity of the city of Baalbek, [which resulted in] the martyrdom of a citizen."
Shortly after Hezbollah announced its rocket barrage, Israel bombed a main road leading into the town of Baalbek, a Hezbollah official confirmed following reports of the raid.
The attack on the province, deep inside Lebanon and far from the Israeli border, is “an insistence on the part of the enemy to expand its aggression against Lebanon”, MP Melhem Hujeiri, who is from Baalbek-Hermel, said in a statement.
Baalbek is considered a seat of power for Hezbollah.
Earlier on Monday, Hezbollah had launched a cross-border drone attack on an Israeli air defence outpost in the Golan Heights, an attack the group said was carried out with “accuracy”.
Hezbollah and the Israeli military have engaged in a mid-intensity cross-border conflict since October 8, when the Lebanese group declared support for its ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Fighting between Israel and armed groups led by Hezbollah has been largely contained to the Israel-Lebanon border area, although Israel has increased strikes deeper into Lebanon in recent weeks in an attempt to warn off the Iran-backed group.
Tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border have been displaced by the fighting.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has said his group is seeking to deter Israel from its assault on Gaza and will not agree to a ceasefire until one is achieved in Gaza.
Israel, meanwhile, has escalated its threats of war in Lebanon should diplomacy fail.
The Old Slave and the Mastiff
Patrick Chamoiseau
Translated from the French and Creole by Linda Coverdale
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
At Everton Appearances: 77; Goals: 17
At Manchester United Appearances: 559; Goals: 253
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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.”
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Brief scores:
Kashima Antlers 0
River Plate 4
Zuculini 24', Martinez 73', 90 2', Borre 89' (pen)
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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Gina%20Prince-Bythewood%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Viola%20Davis%2C%20Thuso%20Mbedu%2C%20Sheila%20Atim%2C%20Lashana%20Lynch%2C%20John%20Boyega%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Asia Cup Qualifier
Final
UAE v Hong Kong
TV:
Live on OSN Cricket HD. Coverage starts at 5.30am
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 2 (Heaton (og) 42', Lindelof 64')
Aston Villa 2 (Grealish 11', Mings 66')
