A Lebanese man who spent 17 years in Israel and was jailed in Lebanon after returning two years ago managed to go back across the border last week with help from Israeli soldiers.
The incident, which was reported by the state-run Lebanese National News Agency (NNA), is highly unusual in the tense border area between two countries that are technically still at war and recalls the fate of thousands of Lebanese who fought in an Israel-backed force during its occupation of Lebanon and fled there when it ended.
Jihad Ahmed Shebli Saleh, originally from the Lebanese border town of Ayta Ash Shab, “crossed the barbed wire and entered the occupied Palestinian territories after an Israeli soldier opened a gap to help him cross", the NNA said. The man was unarmed and was arrested by the military for questioning on Thursday after crossing, according to Israeli media.
The border area is patrolled by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), a peacekeeping mission created in 1978 which monitors the ceasefire between the two countries.
In addition to an existing fence, Israel started building a concrete wall in 2012 at several points along the so-called Blue Line, which both countries have agreed to respect in the absence of an official border, though some areas are still disputed.
Mr Saleh, 40, had initially fled to Israel in 2000 with his father, who was described as a “collaborator” in the NNA report. After 17 years in Israel, he came back to Lebanon alone through the border fence for reasons which were not explained. He was arrested by the Lebanese army and tried in court. After spending an unspecified amount of time in prison, he moved back to Ayta Ash Shab where he faced “no harassment”, the NNA said.
Thousands of Lebanese fled to Israel as its forces retreated from southern Lebanon in 2000 after 22 years of occupation. They were afraid of being targeted by Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese party whose militia fought Israel during its presence in south Lebanon and then again during a 33-day war in July 2006. Its leader, Hassan Nasrallah recently admitted that his group had built the cross-border tunnels discovered by Israel late last year.
Most Lebanese living in Israel were once part of the South Lebanon Army (SLA), which was trained, funded and equipped by Israel.
Formed in 1975 at the beginning of the Lebanese civil war, the SLA fought Palestinian groups and also Hezbollah in the 1980s and 1990s. The SLA ran the notorious Khiam prison where "systematic torture" was used, Human Rights Watch said in a 1999 report.
The paramilitary group disintegrated with Israel’s withdrawal, which transformed nearly 6,000 Lebanese into refugees overnight, according to Ben Herzog, assistant professor at Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
A former captain in the SLA told The National he was paid US$1,800 (Dh6,600) a month in the 1990s, a significant sum considering that minimum wage in Lebanon today is $450 a month.
The SLA comprised some 2,500 soldiers, mostly of Shiite origin, although senior officers were almost exclusively Christian, Mr Herzog wrote in a 2009 article. Its members were allowed to work in Israel, an important incentive in south Lebanon which was economically isolated because of the 1975-1990 civil war.
"Fourteen months after the withdrawal from Lebanon, 1,378 people returned home, 377 emigrated to other countries (mostly Germany and Australia), and approximately 3,900 SLA men and women remained in Israel", Mr Herzog wrote.
Former SLA soldiers in Israel receive pension payments and retirement grants equivalent to those of the Israeli army.
Those who stayed in Lebanon all served prison sentences for collaborating with Israel, the former SLA captain said.
A Lebanese group called Hakkoun Yarjaho, which means "it is their right to return" in Arabic, was formed in 2011 to campaign for the safe return of former SLA members. A proposed general amnesty law that would include them as well as Islamist fundamentalists facing terrorism charges has not been discussed since April last year.
There have been several other illegal border crossings recently. In early February, a Lebanese man who had entered Israel was sent back after two days of interrogation, days after two other Lebanese men were arrested while trying to smuggle drugs into Israel, the Times of Israel reported. An American citizen who entered Lebanon from Israel was arrested in the coastal town of Tyre on January 17.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
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.”
