February 25, 1984: Five military aircraft swoop low over marshland, with several turning hard, possibly after firing weapons.
Below them, the wake of a speed boat heads east through a passage in the dense reeds.
It's ten days into Operation Kheibar, Iran's military operation that saw motor boats carry troops through vast marshland at the height of the Iran-Iraq war. Iraq thought the marshland would be impassable, until the Iranians caught them off guard.
Other pictures show large numbers of boats speeding through the wetland, in declassified US spy satellite imagery that shows the granular detail available to US intelligence after 1971. That year, new satellites known as KH-9 Hexagons became operational, which provided unprecedented photographic clarity.
The imagery has been declassified, with samples available for the public by the US Geological Survey in chunks of tens of thousands of images since 2013. Since the images cover such vast areas – there are 900,000 in total – researchers are still finding use for these incredible historical records.
Small moments with huge implications are pictured, like the beginnings of an Israeli settlement in Netzarim, Gaza, pictured in 1974, temporary-looking structures built, according to UN documents, on the land of the Abu Madyan tribe.
Today, the area has been turned into an Israeli-controlled buffer zone, cutting Gaza in half.
Two years later, declassified US State Department cables fretted about expanding settlements from Gaza to the Sinai in Egypt, including tent camps. It's not clear if this satellite imagery was used to monitor this expansion.
Other images are equally revealing, after The National spent many hours trawling through the photographs, which cover thousands of square kilometres.
Watching the ceasefire
May 1974: US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was in talks with Egypt’s President Anwar Sadat in the wake of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Egypt regained the Sinai, lost to Israel in 1967, in its surprise attack, but its forces were eventually routed there.
In Syria, after a colossal tank battle for the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Sadat urged Kissinger to push the Israelis back from occupying even more of the country, to get them out of the town of Quneitra.
Kissinger complained bitterly about negotiations with the Israelis, staring for hours at maps and, according to apparent Israeli leaks of the talks, arguing over several hundred metres of land "like a rug merchant".
Behind the scenes, the K-9 satellites could monitor everything. Military positions across the Golan, like the bunker complex pictured below, could be tracked at high levels of detail.
The Hexagon image below is dated June 25, 1974, showing the Quneitra valley, where Israeli and Syrian forces fought fierce battles in 1973 and clashed around 1,000 times in the following year.
The following day, a compromise would be implemented, with Israel pulling back from a 25-square-kilometre area.
Yet the image shows palls of smoke in the valley. It’s not clear if this is from farming activity or last-minute fighting before the deal.
Working that out would be the job of analysts at the US National Reconnaissance Office who would spend countless hours studying the vast images, nearly 600 kilometre swathes of land at a time.
“Photograph interpreters were specially trained people. They would elicit from what we might consider a grainy picture critical information through mensuration techniques and other skills. You could look at the same picture and say, ‘well, it looks like a fuzzy thing,’” says Charles Duelfer, former special adviser to the director of the CIA on the status of Iraq’s suspected weapons of mass destruction after the 2003 invasion.
Before then, he worked as the acting chairman of UNSCOM, which oversaw inspection of Iraq's WMD facilities.
The capability was invaluable: not only could the US spot the movement of Soviet weapons – especially nuclear – but it could provide allies with vital information about their enemies, such as troop movements.
This also applied to countries that had mixed relations with the US, like Iraq under Saddam Hussein, which was also strongly backed by the Soviets. America supplied imagery-derived information about Iran’s forces, while the Soviets and others supplied arms and the KGB cracked Iranian communication codes.
“There is a diplomatic currency, which is intelligence sharing and overhead imagery, or imagery derived intelligence, was a very valuable thing, much more so than before commercial satellite imagery became available. The degree of sharing was always case by case. It became a form of art, to show imagery that was often very sensitive,” Mr Duelfer says.
“I was in the State Department's political military affairs bureau from 1982, overhead imagery was an important tool for us. It gave clarity to other sources of reporting on ground movements. The way the imagery bureaucracy worked in those days, the State Department channelled imagery intelligence through INR (the Bureau of Intelligence and Research) where a couple specialists were part of the inter-agency committee that prioritised tasking.
"Overhead imagery was a far more important and unique tool then than it is now, because today everybody and their dog is an imagery analyst and there’s lots of imagery available to everyone. If you go to Bellingcat, they've got some really smart analysts and they're doing amazing things.”
Mr Duelfer, who went on to serve as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for arms control, describes the importance of the US provision of satellite intelligence to Iraq during its bloody eight-year war with Iran. Hexagon imagery from the period shows thousands of kilometres of trench lines and defensive positions appearing like a First World War battlefield.
Iranian positions are clearly visible: no dug-in armoured vehicle or gun could be hidden in ambush, evidenced in this image of defensive horse shoe-shaped earth berms seen around Ahvaz, Iran.
These sites could be observed by Iraqi aircraft, if it wasn’t for the fact that Iraq’s air force struggled in the early years of the war, particularly after a devastating Iranian strike on one of its main airbases, H-3, allegedly after Israel passed intelligence about the base passed to the Iranians.
Iranian airbases, too, were clearly observed, with fighter jets pictured here by the side of a runway in Tabriz, their sleek lines suggesting they could be US-made F-5’s captured during the 1979 revolution and used in the H-3 operation.
“Air supremacy was an issue in the Iran-Iraq War, so this was important. And the ability for Iraq to know if there's an Iranian troop mass, you know, 15 kilometres back in such and such a place, that's extremely important," Mr Duelfer says.
"We would provide information to the Iraqis on Iranian troop disposition, and the Iraqis could use that for targeting weapons, including potentially chemical weapons. Iraq used chemical munitions to help counter the Iranian tactic of using 'human waves' to assault Iraqi positions.
"This Iranian tactic was effective, so long as you didn’t care about casualties. The natural antidote to human wave assaults for Iraq was chemical munitions.”
One Iraqi general described after the war how "American intelligence provided us with information before Fao (a major offensive). The Iraqi intelligence service brought a US government representative, who provided satellite pictures, to meet us".
Mr Duelfer continues: “We had a policy where we were providing intelligence, because there was the policy to tilt towards Iraq. We did not want to see Iraq lose. It’s important to recall that the chemical weapons treaty didn't exist at the time, it was under negotiation.”
Every aspect of the conflict could be seen, from devastating air strikes on oil infrastructure in Abadan – retaliation for Iranian bombing of refineries in Baghdad, to Abadan’s street by street detail as the two foes clashed in the city.
Further detail in the collections can be seen in the two pictures below, dated October 14, 1973, during Egypt’s counterattack in the Sinai. Groups of armoured vehicles, likely Israeli due to their location far back from the Egyptian attack that day, can be seen positioned in the desert far from a main road.
Zooming out, it's possible to map out the positions of entire brigades – an entire conflict observed from space, for the first time.
Former intelligence analysts, speaking to The National on background, highlighted some of the limitations of the imagery when viewed without context, such as "Sigint" or intercepted enemy communications. They also highlighted the lack of "persistent" observation due to the time it took to obtain the photographs.
"Hexagon was wet film with required recovery and processing, so time from image to use was measured in days. That is OK for strategic intelligence but terrible for fast-moving crises. That’s one reason why we flew U-2s spy planes over Cuba during the missile crisis," one analyst said, referring to high altitude spy planes.
In terms of strategic intelligence, an image from 1980 shows the huge Soviet military build-up in Afghanistan at Kabul International Airport following the USSR's invasion, with analysts able to count the number of helicopters, vehicles and cargo planes – and warn allies in the Afghan Mujahideen.
"Patterns of life are critical," said another analyst, who worked US military intelligence for decades, describing a common method of analysing a target.
"Having a ‘long stare’ at a country’s military gives the analysts a chance to ‘cheat’ as they know where the units deploy from and deploy to. Understanding the doctrinal employment of the targeted country’s armed forces is also key," he says.
The US and allies devoted significant time to understanding how the Soviets organised their forces, approaches often passed on to their allies, including Iraqis, Syrians and Egyptians.
"Imagery analysis is done in conjunction with using all the disciplines of intelligence to hone the analyst in. For example, if you had SIGINT indications of a given type of radar or a certain type of transmission it could be associated with a platform," the analyst adds, referring to a specific type of weapon, aircraft or radar.
"That platform is often associated with other platforms or units. Certain mobile surface to air missiles, for example, in Soviet doctrine (and thus the nations that bought their equipment and thus get their manuals) are used to cover artillery, HQ units, and reserves. Find one thing and start to search outward and you often find others. The game of signatures across spectrums is timeless, and ever a contest, but the fundamentals are the same."
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
The specs: 2017 Lotus Evora Sport 410
Price, base / as tested Dh395,000 / Dh420,000
Engine 3.5L V6
Transmission Six-speed manual
Power 410hp @ 7,000rpm
Torque 420Nm @ 3,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.7L / 100km
Red Sparrow
Dir: Francis Lawrence
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Egerton, Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Irons
Three stars
How being social media savvy can improve your well being
Next time when procastinating online remember that you can save thousands on paying for a personal trainer and a gym membership simply by watching YouTube videos and keeping up with the latest health tips and trends.
As social media apps are becoming more and more consumed by health experts and nutritionists who are using it to awareness and encourage patients to engage in physical activity.
Elizabeth Watson, a personal trainer from Stay Fit gym in Abu Dhabi suggests that “individuals can use social media as a means of keeping fit, there are a lot of great exercises you can do and train from experts at home just by watching videos on YouTube”.
Norlyn Torrena, a clinical nutritionist from Burjeel Hospital advises her clients to be more technologically active “most of my clients are so engaged with their phones that I advise them to download applications that offer health related services”.
Torrena said that “most people believe that dieting and keeping fit is boring”.
However, by using social media apps keeping fit means that people are “modern and are kept up to date with the latest heath tips and trends”.
“It can be a guide to a healthy lifestyle and exercise if used in the correct way, so I really encourage my clients to download health applications” said Mrs Torrena.
People can also connect with each other and exchange “tips and notes, it’s extremely healthy and fun”.
MATCH INFO
Syria v Australia
2018 World Cup qualifying: Asia fourth round play-off first leg
Venue: Hang Jebat Stadium (Malacca, Malayisa)
Kick-off: Thursday, 4.30pm (UAE)
Watch: beIN Sports HD
* Second leg in Australia scheduled for October 10
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
The Limehouse Golem
Director: Juan Carlos Medina
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth
Three stars
UAE squad
Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
No Shame
Lily Allen
(Parlophone)
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.”
Countries offering golden visas
UK
Innovator Founder Visa is aimed at those who can demonstrate relevant experience in business and sufficient investment funds to set up and scale up a new business in the UK. It offers permanent residence after three years.
Germany
Investing or establishing a business in Germany offers you a residence permit, which eventually leads to citizenship. The investment must meet an economic need and you have to have lived in Germany for five years to become a citizen.
Italy
The scheme is designed for foreign investors committed to making a significant contribution to the economy. Requires a minimum investment of €250,000 which can rise to €2 million.
Switzerland
Residence Programme offers residence to applicants and their families through economic contributions. The applicant must agree to pay an annual lump sum in tax.
Canada
Start-Up Visa Programme allows foreign entrepreneurs the opportunity to create a business in Canada and apply for permanent residence.
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WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
When Umm Kulthum performed in Abu Dhabi
Known as The Lady of Arabic Song, Umm Kulthum performed in Abu Dhabi on November 28, 1971, as part of celebrations for the fifth anniversary of the accession of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan as Ruler of Abu Dhabi. A concert hall was constructed for the event on land that is now Al Nahyan Stadium, behind Al Wahda Mall. The audience were treated to many of Kulthum's most well-known songs as part of the sold-out show, including Aghadan Alqak and Enta Omri.
The specs
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Power: 480kW
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Transmission: Single-speed automatic
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How much of your income do you need to save?
The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.
In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)
Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.
HOW TO WATCH
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The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Sting & Shaggy
44/876
(Interscope)
The biog
Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi
Age: 23
How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them
Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need
Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman
Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs
Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing
Read more from Aya Iskandarani
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
