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Hezbollah unleashed a multipronged attack on sites in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights on Thursday.
The Iran-backed group said it fired missiles at six Israeli military sites, including a barracks, in a co-ordinated attack the day after it launched a barrage of rockets from southern Lebanon.
Simultaneously, it also launched several squadrons of assault drones at positions in northern Israel, including the main intelligence base in northern Israel that Hezbollah said was responsible for the assassinations of its fighters.
The Israeli military said approximately 40 projectiles were launched towards the Galilee and Golan Heights area.
Two people were wounded by shrapnel, Israel's national ambulance service said, and a number of wildfires were set off by rockets that landed in open areas.
Hezbollah pledged to intensify its attacks on Israel after the assassination of a senior commander on Tuesday night.
The Lebanese armed group, which is also a political party, said its attacks came in response to the Israeli strike on the south Lebanese village of Jouaiya, about 15km from the Israeli border, that killed Taleb Sami Abdallah, also known as Abu Taleb, and three other members of Hezbollah.
“Our response after the martyrdom of Abu Taleb will be to intensify our operations in severity, strength, quantity and quality,” said senior Hezbollah official Hashem Saffieddine at the funeral of Mr Abdallah on Wednesday.
His remarks came after Hezbollah had already fired more than 200 rockets on northern Israel, its largest barrage yet since hostilities broke out along the Lebanese-Israeli border area on October 8.
“Let the enemy wait for us in the battlefield,” he added.
There were no immediate reports of casualties. Some projectiles were intercepted, while others ignited brush fires.
Fires have become common on both sides of the border as the dry summer heat has begun.
“It is natural that Abu Taleb was a permanent target,” Mr Saffieddine said of the commander, the most senior Hezbollah leader to be killed since October.
Mr Abdallah is among 300 Hezbollah fighters to have been killed since the conflict broke out, but one of only two who the group has formally referred to as a commander.
More information has since been released about Mr Abdallah, who was the commander of the Nasr Unit, which is responsible for part of the border area.
He was described by Mr Saffieddine as an important leader in the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war, the last time the two sides fought a full-on conflict.
Israel has upped military drills on the border, some of which involve brigades withdrawn from Gaza, the army announced on Thursday.
“In the last two weeks, a series of brigade exercises were carried out in which the troops were trained for different combat patterns in the northern arena,” it said in a statement, publishing images of soldiers training with weapons.
“The exercise simulated a combat scenario at varying ranges, while emphasising the capabilities of movement in a tangled terrain, progress along a mountainous route, the use of multi-scale fire and combat in different areas,” it added.
G7 'concerned'
The conflict on the Israel-Lebanon border was also the subject of discussions in Baghdad and Italy on Thursday.
Iraq and Iran's foreign ministers discussed the “dangerous signs” of Israel possibly attacking Lebanon, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said after meeting with visiting Iranian Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani.
“If there is an attack on southern Lebanon, God forbid, it will affect the whole region,” Mr Hussein said during a press conference in Baghdad. He warned that “expanding the war is not only a danger to Lebanon but to the entire region”.
Mr Bagheri Kani said “the Zionists, due to their failure in Gaza, might make another mistake and expand their aggression”. Both countries called for an immediate ceasefire in the continuing war in Gaza. Iran is a key backer of Hezbollah.
Ahead of a G7 meeting in Puglia, where a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel was top of the agenda, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the situation in Lebanon would also be discussed.
US President Joe Biden would discuss “the increasing intensity and scope of the strikes by Hezbollah deeper into Israel, and including into civilian areas”, Mr Sullivan said, adding that a ceasefire in Gaza would help bring calm to that region as well.
Hezbollah says it is carrying out the attacks in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has undertaken a brutal bombardment that has killed more than 37,100 people. Hezbollah says it will not end its attacks until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
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About Takalam
Date started: early 2020
Founders: Khawla Hammad and Inas Abu Shashieh
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech and wellness
Number of staff: 4
Funding to date: Bootstrapped
LILO & STITCH
Starring: Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Rating: 4.5/5
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Fitness problems in men's tennis
Andy Murray - hip
Novak Djokovic - elbow
Roger Federer - back
Stan Wawrinka - knee
Kei Nishikori - wrist
Marin Cilic - adductor
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
One in nine do not have enough to eat
Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.
One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.
The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.
Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.
It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.
On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.
Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.
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.”
