BAGHDAD // ISIL took full control of a border crossing between Iraq and Syria on Sunday, tightening its grip on the heart of its self-proclaimed caliphate.
The move gave the militants control of the two main roads between Syria and Iraq’s province of Anbar, and comes a week after the group captured the Iraqi city of Ramadi and days after it seized the historic Syrian city of Palmyra – two of its most significant military victories in almost a year.
Also on Sunday, US defence secretary Ash Carter said the takeover of Ramadi showed that Iraqi forces “showed no will to fight”. It was the harshest assessment yet from a high-ranking Obama administration official.
Speaking to CNN's State of the Union TV show, Mr Carter said, "They were not outnumbered ... In fact, they vastly outnumbered the opposing force. "
ISIL’s recent successes have raised further questions about the efficiency of the US-led coalition’s eight-month air campaign.
Coalition warplanes have conducted more than 3,000 strikes in Iraq and Syria since August 2014 and dozens more were carried out in recent days in a bid to contain the extremists.
Mr Carter defended the use of US airstrikes as an effective part of the fight against ISIL but said they were not a replacement for Iraqi forces defending their country.
“We can participate in the defeat of ISIL,” he said. “But we can’t make Iraq ... a decent place for people to live – we can’t sustain the victory, only the Iraqis can do that.”
ISIL fighters seized Al Walid border post on Sunday when Iraqi government forces pulled back to a nearby crossing with Jordan. The group had taken the Syrian side of the crossing on Thursday.
“There was no military support for the security forces and there weren’t enough of them to protect the crossing,” Suad Jassem, the head of Anbar’s border commission, said.
“Daesh [ISIL] now controls both sides of both crossings,” she said, referring to another crossing between Anbar and Syria further north that the extremists seized last year.
There were seven in Anbar alone in a period of 24 hours straddling May 22-23 as Iraqi government and allied forces began to claw back territory from ISIL east of Ramadi.
Swift action was seen as essential to prevent ISIL from laying booby traps across Ramadi, which would make any advance in the city more risky and complicated.
In Syria, ISIL supporters and a monitoring group said the militants shot down a government helicopter near the Kweyris air base in Aleppo province on Sunday, but state media said the aircraft had suffered technical problems.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said at least one crew member had been killed but “the fate of the rest is unknown”.
However, militant accounts on Twitter said ISIL had shot down the helicopter using anti-aircraft missiles. “A helicopter crashed after takeoff from Kweyris airport in Aleppo province because of technical faults and the crew were killed,” reported Syrian state TV.
Meanwhile, a Syrian official said the army was deploying troops in areas near the ancient town of Palmyra in preparation for a counterattack to retake the city from ISIL.
Governor Talal Barazi of the central province of Homs, which includes Palmyra, said on Sunday “there is planning, God willing, for a military action in the surroundings of Palmyra” adding it was not yet clear when the attack will be launched.
He also said ISIL members have “committed mass massacres in the city of Palmyra” since they captured it on Wednesday.
Syria’s state media reported on Sunday that ISIL fighters have executed at least 400 people in Palmyra since the fall of Palmyra.
It was not immediately possible to verify the account, but it was consistent with reports by activists that the extremists had carried out executions in the ancient city.
“The terrorists have killed more than 400 people .. and mutilated their bodies, under the pretext that they cooperated with the government and did not follow orders,” Syria’s state news agency said, citing residents inside the city.
* Agence France-Presse, Associated Press and Reuters
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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
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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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
FIXTURES
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