Yemen's military is trying to disrupt the Houthi rebels main supply route in Taez after gaining a vital strategic advantage with the capture of the Khalid bin Al Waleed military base in the province.
Soldiers backed by the Arab Coalition are fighting for control of a central road that runs down from Sanaa, Yemen's rebel-held capital, to Taez in the south-east, an area that has been fiercely contested since the civil war broke out in early 2015.
The military briefly held the central vantage point that gives it control of the Al Khazan intersection, which connects the rebel-held north to areas in the south and east of Yemen, before being pushed out.
This point is considered “the gate to Taez” from the north, said Colonel Abdulbaset Al Baher, a military official in Taez.
"Army forces could not maintain control for long because big reinforcements for the Houthi militia came from Al Hawban area in Taez city and deployed on hills overlooking Al Barh area," Col Al Baher told The National.
The military retreated to recently captured areas but will make a renewed push for the intersection with coalition air support.
Arab coalition jets launched at least four air strikes on Houthi posts in Al Barh and on a cement factory west of Taez on Saturday. The strikes killed a number rebel leaders and destroyed mortars and artillery belonging to the Iran-backed rebels.
Meanwhile, elite Yemeni forces backed by the UAE pressed an offensive in Hadramawt province to stamp out Al Qaeda's Yemen branch.
The campaign, known as Operation Black Mountain, aims to eliminate pocket of Al Qaeda fighters in Wadi Hager north of Mukalla, the main city in the eastern province.
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Read more:
UAE-backed Yemen forces seize one of Al Qaeda’s largest strongholds in Shabwa
Houthi rebels' No 2 killed in coalition air strike
The spark in the Houthi coup — Saleh Al Sammad
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On Saturday, soldiers in neighbouring Shabwa province captured one of Al Qaeda's biggest strongholds in Yemen.
The operation Rafadh Al Ras included two coalition strikes that killed several militants and the capture of many more in "fierce confrontations", said Col Mohammed Salem Al Buhar, commander of the elite forces in Shabwa.
Yemeni security forces also killed a senior ISIS commander during a gun battle in Aden on Saturday. The death of Saleh Nasser Fadhl Al Bakshi is a significant blow to the extremist group in the country.
The civil war that has engulfed Yemen after the Iran-backed Houthi rebels overran the capital created a security vacuum that Al Qaeda and ISIS exploited to increase their presence.
One of the deadliest extremist attacks in the civil war came in March 2015 when ISIS targeted two Shiite mosques in Sanaa, killing 142 people.
The biog
Hobbies: Writing and running
Favourite sport: beach volleyball
Favourite holiday destinations: Turkey and Puerto Rico
START-UPS IN BATCH 4 OF SANABIL 500'S ACCELERATOR PROGRAMME
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Karaz: Helps diabetics with gamification, IoT and real-time data
Medicarri: Medical marketplace that connects clinics with suppliers
Mod5r: Makes automated and recurring investments to grow wealth
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Eighty6: Marketplace for restaurant and supplier procurements
FarmUnboxed: Helps digitise international food supply chain
NutriCal: Helps F&B businesses and governments with nutritional analysis
Wellxai: Provides insurance that enables and rewards user habits
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Amwal: A Shariah-compliant crowd-lending platform
Deben: Helps CFOs manage cash efficiently
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Monak: Provides financial inclusion and life services to migrants
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.”
Plan to boost public schools
A major shake-up of government-run schools was rolled out across the country in 2017. Known as the Emirati School Model, it placed more emphasis on maths and science while also adding practical skills to the curriculum.
It was accompanied by the promise of a Dh5 billion investment, over six years, to pay for state-of-the-art infrastructure improvements.
Aspects of the school model will be extended to international private schools, the education minister has previously suggested.
Recent developments have also included the introduction of moral education - which public and private schools both must teach - along with reform of the exams system and tougher teacher licensing requirements.
