BAGHDAD // An Iraqi Shiite who proudly fought Sunni rebels in Syria’s civil war is now running for parliament in his home country, where the conflict has raised already-high sectarian tensions.
Faleh Al Khazali is one of an unknown number of Iraqi Shiites who have gone to fight on the side of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad against a Sunni-led rebellion.
There are Iraqi Sunnis fighting on the other side of the war, including for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), one of two powerful jihadist groups in Syria with roots in Iraq.
The civil war has destroyed swathes of Syrian cities and claimed over 150,000 lives, and in Iraq has sharpened sectarian tensions that have contributed to the worst surge in bloodshed since the height of the violence that followed the 2003 US-led invasion.
Mr Al Khazali, a 39-year-old father of four, commanded the first group of Iraqi Shiite forces that travelled to Syria “to free the area surrounding the Sayida Zainab (shrine) from the takfiris,” he said in the southern port city of Basra, referring to Sunni extremists.
The shrine to the daughter of Imam Ali, located near Damascus, is a revered site for Shiite Muslims, which Iraqis who go to Syria say they are fighting to defend.
“We entered Syria a year and three months ago ... in a pre-emptive war to eradicate” the extremists, said Mr Al Khazali, who is running on prime minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law list in the April 30 parliamentary election.
Iraq’s Shiite-led government has publicly sought to remain neutral, but privately seems to favour Mr Al Assad, who is a member of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
“I was wounded in my eye in front of Sayida Zainab and lost it, and I am delighted and proud of this, and I will return to Syria as the situation requires,” Mr Al Khazali said.
Mr Al Khazali, a government employee, was also wounded in his right leg while fighting in Syria.
His public Facebook page makes no secret of his involvement in Syria, featuring pictures of him clad in camouflage, including one slightly blurred shot that appears to show him holding a Kalashnikov assault rifle in each hand.
Other pictures include a montage of the Sayida Zainab shrine, Mr Al Khazali in battle dress giving a victory sign, and a campaign poster with pictures of him and Mr Al Maliki and the slogan: “We build Iraq.”
He is also shown lying in a hospital bed with a bandage over his right eye.
“Our national security, as Iraqis, requires that we go there (to Syria) to defend the holy places first, and second to defend Iraq,” Mr Al Khazali said.
The Syrian civil broke out in 2011 when Mr Al Assad’s forces carried out a bloody crackdown on protesters calling for reform.
Foreign fighters from various Arab states and as far afield as Afghanistan and Chechnya have played a key role in the Syrian conflict, first on behalf of the rebels, but also on the side of the regime.
Lebanese Shiite militant group Hizbollah has acknowledged sending thousands of fighters into Syria and contributing to a string of regime victories.
“There are hundreds of offices belonging to Shiite movements in all Iraq that welcome recruits to fight in Syria,” Abu Ammar, who has twice been to Syria to fight on the side of Assad’s regime, each time for several weeks, said in Baghdad.
“I am ready to go again at the first chance,” he said.
“The first time there were many Iraqis and Syrians with me. We fought the ISIL organisation and expelled them from areas near the Sayida Zainab shrine.”
He said he fought ISIL during his second trip as well, but did not specify where.
Pictures of Iraqi Shiites killed in Syria hang around Baghdad, while Islamist militant forums feature images of Iraqi Sunnis who died fighting for groups including ISIL.
In Najaf, south of Baghdad, a steady stream of Iraqi Shiites killed in Syria are buried in the massive cemetery known as “the Valley of Peace” that surrounds the shrine of Imam Ali, one of the holiest sites for Shiite Muslims.
A special area has been allocated for the burial of “the martyrs who fought to defend the Sayida Zainab shrine,” said Mahdi Al Assadi, who runs a burial service in the cemetery.
“Between 10 to 15 martyrs a week (are buried in) the Najaf cemetery,” Mr Al Assadi said.
* Agence France-Presse
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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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