JERUSALEM // The Israeli military said yesterday it has warned its top officers to be on guard when travelling abroad following the killing of Mahmoud al Mabhouh, a Hamas commander, in Dubai.
Hamas has accused Israel of carrying out an assassination and vowed revenge, hinting it could attack Israeli targets abroad. Hamas has historically limited its attacks to Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Although Israel has not acknowledged any role in the killing, military officials said yesterday they were taking the threats seriously and had instructed senior officers, military attachés and soldiers on study leave to exercise caution when travelling abroad.
The officials said the military feared Hamas could try to capture Israeli officers outside the country.
Israel also has boosted security measures at its borders and embassies following the killing, Israeli public radio said yesterday.
Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas, hinted that Hamas might reconsider its long-standing policy of only carrying out attacks within Israel, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
"The battle with the Zionist enemy is inside the historic borders of Palestine, and the occupation is trying to change the rules of the game - it should expect anything."
Israeli security officials have claimed that al Mabhouh played a critical role in smuggling more advanced rockets from Iran to Palestinian militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Hamas already possesses a formidable arsenal of shorter-range weaponry, and Israeli officials consider these longer-range rockets that could strike cities in central Israel to be an unacceptable threat.
Hamas has been quiet about the reason for al Mabhouh's travels, though a brother said he was on a mission for the militant group.
One senior Hamas figure, Osama Hamdan, denied al Mabhouh was on a special assignment or that he was planning to head to Iran. Iran has long been suspected of supplying weapons to Hamas.
Israel carried out a broad military offensive against Hamas militants last year. The operation, meant to halt Hamas rocket fire, killed almost 1,400 people, including an estimated 900 civilians, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups.
Yesterday, an Israeli court indicted two suspected Hamas members on charges they plotted attacks against civilian targets across Israel. Israel's Shin Bet internal intelligence agency claims that Marad Kamel, 24, and Marad Namr, 25, were recruited by Hamas while living in Jordan.
The targets included central bus stations in Beer Sheva and Jerusalem, a Jerusalem mall, Tel Aviv's hotel district and a military base in the Tel Aviv area, the agency said. The men were arrested on January 3, but there was a gag order on their detention.
The two live in Jerusalem and have Israeli identification cards that allowed them to travel freely throughout Israel. The Shin Bet said it recovered a portable flash drive that contained photos, video and other plans for the attacks.
The men were charged with contacts with a foreign agent, membership in a terrorist organisation, aiding and abetting the enemy during wartime and espionage.
* Associated Press, with additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India
The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela
Edited by Sahm Venter
Published by Liveright
What%20is%20Dungeons%20%26%20Dragons%3F%20
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Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
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Salah in numbers
€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of €39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.
13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.
57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.
7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.
3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.
40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.
30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.
8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.
MATCH INFO
Manchester City 2 (Mahrez 04', Ake 84')
Leicester City 5 (Vardy 37' pen, 54', 58' pen, Maddison 77', Tielemans 88' pen)
Man of the match: Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
