US president Barack Obama vowed on Monday to go after ‘the heart of ISIL that pumps funds and propaganda to people around the world’. His remarks came days before the launch of the Abu Dhabi-based Sawab Centre, a counter-terrorism outfit created to blunt the etremist group’s online propaganda. Saul Loeb/AFP Photo
US president Barack Obama vowed on Monday to go after ‘the heart of ISIL that pumps funds and propaganda to people around the world’. His remarks came days before the launch of the Abu Dhabi-based SawShow more

Abu Dhabi counter-terrorism centre to battle ISIL’s online lies



>> Click here to watch launch video of Sawab Centre

New York // The anti-ISIL coalition led by the US will launch a new counter-terrorism centre based in Abu Dhabi today.

The Sawab Centre will focus on counter-propaganda aimed at undercutting ISIL’s appeal among young Arabs in the region to help staunch the flow of foreign fighters from the Middle East and North Africa.

The centre is part of a strategy to revamp faltering efforts to blunt the extremist group’s online propaganda, which has drawn tens of thousands of foreign fighters from around the world.

Officials involved in the initiative say the goal is for the centre to eventually become a global hub linked to similar centres around the world to share effective online content and strategies.

“The centre, named after the Arabic word for ‘the right and spiritual path,’ will use direct online engagement to counter the terrorist messaging that is used to recruit foreign fighters, fundraise, and terrorise local populations,” the state department said.

The opening comes after US president Barack Obama cautioned on Monday said the coalition was “intensifying” its campaign against the group’s base in Syria. “We’re going after the ISIL leadership and infrastructure in Syria, the heart of ISIL that pumps funds and propaganda to people around the world,” he said after a meeting with his national security team at the Pentagon.

Undersecretary Richard Stengel, the senior state department official responsible for counter-propaganda efforts, is in the UAE for the launch of Sawab Centre.

He recently admitted in a leaked memo that internal disagreements and bureaucratic confusion had allowed the US-led coalition’s online efforts to be “trumped” by ISIL’s sophisticated social media strategy.

In 2011, the state department created a small office, the Centre for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC), to combat ISIL online via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

But the centre has largely been viewed as a failure by counter-terrorism analysts and government officials, who say its online sparring with ISIL supporters lacked a coherent strategy.

By disseminating clips of ISIL’s videos in an attempt to portray the group as cruel and un-Islamic, they say, the CSCC has inadvertently contributed to the extremist group’s strategy to project an image of power.

However, US officials say that the CSCC learned from its mistakes and will now seek closer coordination with allies in the Middle East as well as prominent religious scholars and respected civil society leaders, whom officials hope will help steer at-risk Arab youth away from ISIL. The new Sawab Centre will play a central role in this plan.

Talks about establishing a regional hub that could respond more quickly and credibly to blunt the extremists’ propaganda began last year during coalition meetings in the UAE and Kuwait, according to Alberto Fernandez, director of the CSCC at the time.

Arab countries in the coalition have been focused on removing or blocking extremist content, but not on creating a counter-narrative to battle ISIL in the realm of ideas online.

The refocusing on the war of ideas with ISIL comes at a crucial moment, as the group faces significant setbacks in Syria — losing up to a third of its territory there in recent weeks — and is more reliant than ever, analysts say, on its carefully constructed narrative of momentum, power and a burgeoning caliphate to draw foreign recruits, regional affiliates and the coerced loyalty of Sunni Arabs in areas under its control. Overstretched, ISIL is now increasingly vulnerable to propaganda that undermines this narrative.

The Sawab Centre will function as a 24/7 operations room that will be staffed by officials from the UAE, US and other coalition members.

The centre’s staff will have a number of primary tasks. The first will be to monitor ISIL’s content and analyse what is resonating with the small demographic subsets targeted by the extremists so that the coalition can produce more research-based messaging to undermine ISIL, according to an official involved with the centre’s creation who requested anonymity.

Rather than highlighting the group’s brutality — precisely what inspires potential recruits — the centre’s own content may work to undermine the idea of ISIL’s “caliphate” by highlighting their inept governance, crumbling infrastructure and poor health services.

The analysis produced by the Sawab Centre will be shared with coalition members to help them in their own counter-propaganda efforts, the official said. Members of the coalition will also share their own best practices with the centre.

The UAE-based centre will also develop real-time content in response to unfolding events on the ground in Syria and Iraq that provides the coalition’s narrative.

The effectiveness of the centre’s messaging will also depend in part on political and military realities. “You can have the most wonderful messaging in the world, but if there is a factor on the ground which is radicalising people, driving people to violence, it’s going to be hard to overcome that with smart, snazzy messaging alone,” Mr Fernandez said.

Having the resources to produce content that rivals the slickness of ISIL propaganda films is also important, he added, as well as skilled people from the region who understand the allure of ISIL’s messages and how to counter them.

“Can you seek to match the adversary in both quality and quantity?” Mr Fernandez asked rhetorically.

Another central focus of the Sawab Centre will be figuring out how to amplify through social media campaigns credible religious figures who oppose ISIL.

The official involved with the centre gave the example of taking a lengthy fatwa by Sheikh bin Bayyah, the Maruitanian Islamic scholar who has issued fatwas against ISIL, and repurposing it into a series of tweets, to make it more accessible and understandable by regional youth who are fluent in social media.

But counter-extremism experts and former officials like Mr Fernandez say that this aspect of the centre’s mission will be the most difficult and perhaps even ill advised, because moderate voices are unlikely to have any impact on potential ISIL recruits, who are already far along the spectrum of radicalisation.

Social media broadcasting is only one part of the puzzle of radicalisation, the former officials and experts said. The one-on-one interaction with supporters is what pushes people to travel to Syria.

While much more difficult to achieve, it should be replicated by experts at the centre, the observers said.

tkhan@thenational.ae

* The former director of CSCC is Alberto Fernandez, not Alberto Gonzalez as an earlier version of this article stated.

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The language of diplomacy in 1853

Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)


We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.

Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale

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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

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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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