GAZA CITY // Months of bitter fighting in Syria were set to stop today after the military and rebel leaders agreed to a temporary ceasefire for Eid Al Adha.
The Syrian military command said it would halt operations from this morning until October 29 in line with the four-day truce proposed by the UN and Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.
But the regime reserved the right to respond to any rebel action.
A commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army also tentatively accepted the terms of the agreement.
"We will respect the ceasefire from tomorrow morning if the Syrian army does the same," said Gen Mustafa Al Sheikh of the FSA, which had previously said it doubted Damascus would stand by any commitment.
Gen Al Sheikh warned he could not speak on behalf of all rebel groups.
"There is not a unified command for all the factions," he said from Turkey. "We speak on behalf of a big enough number of fighters but there are other armed factions who follow other commands."
Meanwhile, a truce between Israel and Hamas brokered by Egypt brought calm to the Gaza Strip yesterday.
An exchange of rockets, mortars and airstrikes that began on Monday and increased after the emir of Qatar's visit to the Palestinian territory on Tuesday ended with eight Palestinians reported dead and two Thai workers injured in Israel.
The agreement to a ceasefire in Syria followed a day of fierce fighting across the country and major advances by rebels in Aleppo.
Residents in Achrafiyeh district, in the heights of the city on a route between its central and northern parts, said about 200 rebels had moved into the area for the first time.
Rebels also captured a military base in the north-eastern province of Raqa yesterday as regime forces bombed Harasta, a suburb of Damascus.
Five people were killed there when Syrian troops pounded the town with tank and rocket fire, after rebels overran two army roadblocks on the edge of the town, opposition campaigners said.
Activists also reported army artillery on the town of Anadan, north-west of Aleppo.
The UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and the US state department reacted cautiously to the ceasefire, which has been billed by diplomats as a last-ditch effort to encourage talks to end the 19-month civil war that has killed as many as 34,000 Syrians.
"It's important that all sides will adhere to this," the UN spokesman Martin Nesirky, speaking for Mr Ban. "We all understand that there is a lack of trust between parties, and therefore we all understand that we cannot be sure yet what will transpire."
The state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said: "What we are hoping and expecting is that they will not just talk the talk of ceasefire, but that they will walk the walk, beginning with the regime, and we will be watching very closely."
UN aid agencies are ready to take advantage of a ceasefire to visit areas that have been difficult to reach due to fighting, a spokesman in Geneva said.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR said it had prepared emergency kits for distribution for as many as 13,000 families in previously inaccessible areas, including Homs and the north-eastern city of Hasaka.
"We and our partners want to be in a position to move quickly if security allows over the next few days," said the UNHCR Syria representative, Tarik Kurdi, in Damascus.
Earlier attempts at ceasefires - notably an agreement hammered out by Mr Brahimi's predecessor Kofi Anna in April - fell flat because of unrelenting attacks by regime forces and Syria's loosely knit bands of rebel groups, which do not fall under one command.
hnaylor@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Agence France-Presse, Associated Presse, Reuters and Bloomberg News
Follow
The National
on
@TheNationalUAE
& Hugh Naylor on
@HughNaylor
if you go
The flights
The closest international airport to the TMB trail is Geneva (just over an hour’s drive from the French ski town of Chamonix where most people start and end the walk). Direct flights from the UAE to Geneva are available with Etihad and Emirates from about Dh2,790 including taxes.
The trek
The Tour du Mont Blanc takes about 10 to 14 days to complete if walked in its entirety, but by using the services of a tour operator such as Raw Travel, a shorter “highlights” version allows you to complete the best of the route in a week, from Dh6,750 per person. The trails are blocked by snow from about late October to early May. Most people walk in July and August, but be warned that trails are often uncomfortably busy at this time and it can be very hot. The prime months are June and September.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
'The Lost Daughter'
Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Starring: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson
Rating: 4/5
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.”
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
Roll of honour 2019-2020
Dubai Rugby Sevens
Winners: Dubai Hurricanes
Runners up: Bahrain
West Asia Premiership
Winners: Bahrain
Runners up: UAE Premiership
UAE Premiership
}Winners: Dubai Exiles
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes
UAE Division One
Winners: Abu Dhabi Saracens
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes II
UAE Division Two
Winners: Barrelhouse
Runners up: RAK Rugby
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
