Israel facing 'all-out war' with Hezbollah as rocket strike kills 12 in Golan Heights

Israel’s Foreign Minister said on Saturday evening that Hezbollah is facing “all-out war” and had ''crossed all red lines'' after a barrage of rockets struck a football pitch in the Golan Heights killing 12 people and injuring at least 13.

Israeli officials said the rocket had been fired from Lebanon. But Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that has been trading tit-for-tat rocket fire with Israel most days since October, denied being behind the strike on the mainly Druze town of Majdal Shams.

However, the attack – whose victims were said by local officials to include children as young as 10 – threatens to provoke a major escalation on the Israel-Lebanon border, which has been looming for months.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz said his country is facing an “all-out war”.

“There is no doubt that Hezbollah crossed all red lines,” he told Israeli outlet Channel 12.

Villagers near the site where a projectile hit a playground in Majdal Shams. EPA

“Hezbollah fired a rocket at children playing football in northern Israel. It then lied and claimed they did not carry out the attack,” said the military's chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

He called it the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since the Hamas attack on October 7.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was returning to Israel early and as soon as possible from his trip to the US, his office said.

An Israel reservist has told The National he fears the attack could be the trigger for war.

“In a normal world this would easily be a trigger for war, but this is Israel in 2024,” Lior Shelef said from the Golan Heights.

“I’ve been on reserves for almost 300 days and my family is evacuated in a hotel. If that’s not a trigger for a war already then I don’t know what is. Honestly, I don’t know, but this should be a trigger for war.

The population in Majdal Shams is mostly from the Druze minority, most of whom do not have Israeli citizenship but are loyal to the state of Israel, which governs the area, provides services and security.

Israeli security forces and medics transport casualties. AFP

The Lebanese government condemned “all acts of violence and attacks against all civilians” in a statement following the rocket attack.

Police and the army confirmed rockets had hit several sites on Saturday, with the army blaming Hezbollah.

The Jerusalem Post reported the attack came after four Hezbollah fighters were killed earlier in the day.

Hezbollah has said three of its fighters have been killed in an Israeli strike.

The Iran-aligned Al-Mayadeen network said 100 rockets were fired in the attack in the Golan Heights.

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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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The drill

Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.

Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”

Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”

Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”

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US tops drug cost charts

The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.

Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.

In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.

Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol.

The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.

High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.