Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Iran conflict
Yemen’s Houthi rebels said on Sunday they had launched missiles at Israel in co-ordination with Iran, in the first acknowledged military action in support of Tehran by one of its regional proxies since the start of Israeli attacks on Iran on Friday.
Houthi troops targeted Tel Aviv with several ballistic missiles in the previous 24 hours, the militia's military spokesman Brig Gen Yahya Saree said in an announcement reported by the rebel-aligned Saba news agency.
“Triumphing for the oppressed Palestinian and Iranian peoples … This operation was co-ordinated with the operations carried out by the Iranian army against the criminal Israeli enemy,” he said.
The operation was successful, he said, without offering details.
Israel launched its biggest military strike against Iran on Friday, prompting Iran to respond with drones and then salvos of ballistic missiles.
The Houthis “salute Iran, its people, army, and leadership, as they bravely, willfully, resolutely, and faithfully confront the brutal Zionist aggression”, Brig Gen Saree said.
Israel said on Friday that a missile launched from Yemen fell in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. The Houthis, however, did not claim responsibility for that attack.
The Houthis have no choice but to get involved in the attacks, said Baraa Shibana, a Yemen expert at the RUSI think tank.
"Israel is no longer constrained by distance or US optics in the region, so they know Israel will hit the Houthis next," Mr Shiban told The National.
"In other words, they feel this is a battle of survival. For the axis as a whole and for the Houthis as a group," he said.
The rebel group's capabilities are "Iranian capabilities that were meant to prevent Tehran from engaging with Israel directly."
The region is braced for a protracted conflict after Israel's surprise bombardment of Iran's nuclear and military sites on Friday killed several top generals and nuclear scientists. Iran responded by launching hundreds of ballistic missiles at Iran, and neither side has showed any sign of backing down.
The Houthis, along with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon, began launching drone and missile attacks on Israel after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Hezbollah was once considered Iran's first line of defence against Israeli attacks, but Israel's retaliatory strikes against the group last year killed its political and military leaders and largely destroyed its arsenal. Lebanese officials have urged Hezbollah not to respond to the Israeli attacks on Iran and the group has assured them it would not, security sources told The National on Saturday.
Iran-backed groups in Iraq, who also launched attacks on Israel over the war in Gaza, have responded to the attacks on Iran by calling for the accelerated the departure of US troops from the country, with the powerful Kataeb Hezbollah warning of “additional wars in the region”.
Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes on Houthi-held areas in Yemen in recent months. The group also faced near-daily US strikes since mid-March, until US President Donald Trump halted the offensive after the Houthis agreed to stop attacks on American ships.
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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Between September and November, 2021 (dates TBC): Host - Namibia; Teams - Namibia, Oman, UAE
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The two finalists advance to the next stage of qualifying, in Malaysia in August
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