WASHINGTON: The United States warned Saturday of a potential environmental disaster in the Red Sea after Houthi militia struck an oil tanker off the Yemeni coast.
The Greek-flagged Sounion was struck on Wednesday off the militia-held port city of Hodeidah, with the Iran-backed Houthis claiming to have hit the vessel with drones and missiles.
On Friday, the UKMTO maritime agency said three fires had been spotted on the ship, while a video released by the Houthis on social media allegedly showed three explosions on the ship.
The 274-meter long vessel had departed from Iraq and was destined for a port near Athens, carrying 150,000 tons of crude oil.
“The Houthis’ continued attacks threaten to spill a million barrels of oil into the Red Sea, an amount four times the size of the Exxon Valdez disaster,” US State Department Matthew Miller said Saturday in a statement.
The Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 released 257,000 barrels along the coast of Alaska.
“While the crew has been evacuated, the Houthis appear determined to sink the ship and its cargo into the sea,” Miller said.
The Sounian’s crew of 23 Filipinos and two Russians were rescued by a ship with the European Union’s Aspides mission.
The naval mission also warned the unmanned vessel represented “a navigational and environmental hazard.”
The Houthis launched their campaign against international shipping in November, saying it is in support of Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war.
In March, the Belize-flagged, Lebanese-operated Rubymar became the first ship targeted by the Houthis to sink during the conflict.
The Rubymar sank in the Red Sea with 21,000 metric tons of ammonium phosphate sulfate fertilizer on board.
The Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier Tutor also sank in June after being struck by the Houthis.
Multiple sailors have also been killed or wounded in the attacks, which have severely disrupted global shipping.
“Through these attacks, the Houthis have made clear they are willing to destroy the fishing industry and regional ecosystems that Yemenis and other communities in the region rely on for their livelihoods,” Miller said Saturday.
“We call on the Houthis to cease these actions immediately and urge other nations to step forward to help avert this environmental disaster,” he added.
Houthi-struck oil tanker could spill ‘million barrels,’ US warns
https://arab.news/6sygj
Houthi-struck oil tanker could spill ‘million barrels,’ US warns
- The Greek-flagged Sounion was struck on Wednesday off the militia-held port city of Hodeidah
MENA private equity deals reach $5.9bn in H1, despite challenging conditions: PitchBook
- Data highlights the impact of the “worst market conditions in the past two years”
- Market heavily impacted by geopolitical conflicts, fluctuating oil prices
RIYADH: Private equity investments in the Middle East and North Africa reached $5.9 billion across 49 deals in the first half of 2024, despite challenging market conditions, according to a new report.
The figures reflect a slowdown in deal activity compared to 2023, when $15.4 billion was deployed across 159 deals for the entire year, raising concerns about whether activity will rebound in the second half of 2024, according to the latest report by PitchBook.
Private equity refers to investment funds that acquire ownership in mature companies, typically through buyouts, aiming to improve performance, restructure operations, or expand before eventually selling for profit.
The data highlights the impact of what it describes as the “worst market conditions in the past two years” on private equity dealmaking in the region.
In comparison with the last decade, where deal values surpassed $10 billion in five out of 10 years, the first half of 2024 represents a significant drop.
Historically, MENA private equity activity has often been driven by a few large, multibillion-dollar deals, and a similar pattern would be required in the second half of the year to match 2023’s performance.
The report revealed that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was the most active investor since 2018, reportedly investing in 36 deals.
The Emirate’s Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Co., also known as ADQ, came in second with 20 deals, followed by Jordan’s Al Arabi Investment Group with 19 transactions.
Market conditions this year have been heavily impacted by a combination of geopolitical conflicts, fluctuating oil prices, and the threat of trade sanctions.
The ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza has not only caused immense humanitarian suffering but has also destabilized economies across the region.
“The risk of escalation or a lengthy conflict creates difficult circumstances for economies. Alongside the humanitarian impacts, conflicts lead to substantial economic losses with potential spillovers to neighboring countries,” the report stated.
Compounding these challenges are disruptions in trade and oil production. Earlier this year, attacks on ships in the Red Sea prompted shifts in trade routes and contributed to a reduction in oil output, amplifying volatility in oil prices — a key factor for MENA economies
As energy exports represent a significant portion of revenue for many countries in the region, any reduction in oil production heightens fiscal pressures and affects broader economic stability, the report explained.
These market headwinds are making it increasingly difficult for private equity investments to gain traction, as businesses navigate both operational risks and broader economic uncertainty.
PE digest
A significant private equity deal in the first half of 2024 was CVC Capital Partners’ $3.3 billion sale of GEMS Education to Brookfield.
GEMS Education, a Dubai-based private school provider with over 60 years of operation, is expected to welcome more than 140,000 students across 46 schools in the UAE and Qatar by September.
“Education has been a key consideration in MENA, and attempts to improve it have been a priority. Initiatives including strengthening education funds, revamping programs, focusing on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) skills, and the implementation of virtual education due to the COVID-19 pandemic have been part of the plans,” the report said.
The healthcare sector in the MENA region is poised for significant growth in the coming years, driven by increasing demand and substantial investments.
A major deal this year was Gulf Islamic Investments’ $164.6 million investment in Saudi-based health care provider Abeer Group.
As part of its Vision 2030, the Kingdom plans to invest over $65 billion in healthcare infrastructure, with projects including 20,000 new hospital beds and 224 health care centers valued at $12.8 billion.
The UAE is also advancing healthcare development, with approximately 700 projects worth a combined $60.9 billion, largely driven by the private sector. Public-private partnerships are expected to play a key role in the sector’s growth.
Qatar has introduced a PPP law to encourage international investment, while Oman has initiated its first medical city through the same arrangement.
Additionally, mandatory health insurance policies are becoming increasingly common across the Gulf Cooperation Council, leading to higher patient numbers.
“Strong demand for healthcare fueled by increasing and aging populations in the MENA region is anticipated to drive up government and private investor spending in the sector. A large pipeline of projects as well as new technologies will create opportunities for startups, portfolio companies, and investors,” the report added.
MENA exits
Private equity and venture capital-backed exit activity saw a sharp decline in the first half of 2024, with only $1.6 billion generated from 25 exits.
This marks a significant drop compared to the previous four years, where annual exit values consistently surpassed $10 billion.
The report stated that the current figures underscore a notable slowdown in exit activity within the MENA region, reflecting broader global trends in 2024.
Investors and management teams have been hesitant to pursue exits amid market volatility, influenced by fluctuations in public markets, inflationary pressures, and rising interest rates, which have dampened growth prospects.
With interest rate hikes largely on pause and potential rate cuts expected in Europe and the US later this year, there is cautious optimism for a recovery in the second half of the year.
The easing of monetary policy could help stabilize market conditions and create more favorable opportunities for exits.
VC’s role in PE
The MENA venture capital ecosystem experienced weaker capital deployment in the first half of the year, mirroring global trends.
A total of $1.3 billion was invested across 321 VC rounds, putting the region on track to fall short of 2023 levels by year-end.
This follows a decline in 2023, when activity in the sector dropped from a peak of $5.5 billion across 894 deals in 2022.
“The MENA region has been earmarked for high growth and untapped opportunities, but it has not been insulated from the broader slump in activity felt by more mature ecosystems,” the report said.
Sluggish economic growth, geopolitical tensions, and inflationary pressures have dampened market confidence, contributing to the overall slowdown in VC activity.
Hamas chief Sinwar thanks Hezbollah in letter to Nasrallah
- Sinwar has not appeared in public since the Oct. 7 attacks
- Hezbollah is the most powerful faction in an alliance of Iran-backed groups known as the Axis of Resistance
BEIRUT: Hamas chief Yehya Sinwar thanked the leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah for his group’s support in the conflict with Israel, Hezbollah said on Friday, in the first reported message since Sinwar became Hamas leader in August.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah has been waging attacks on Israel for nearly a year in a conflict across the Lebanese-Israeli border that has been taking place in parallel to the Gaza war. Hezbollah says its attacks aim to support the Palestinians.
“Your blessed actions have expressed your solidarity on the fronts of the Axis of Resistance, supporting and engaging in the battle,” Sinwar told Nasrallah, according to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar broadcaster.
Sinwar has not appeared in public since the Oct. 7 attacks, and is widely thought to be running the war from tunnels beneath Gaza. It was the second time this week he is reported to have sent a letter. Hamas said on Tuesday he had sent one congratulating Algerian President Abdulmadjid Tebboune on his reelection.
Hezbollah is the most powerful faction in an alliance of Iran-backed groups known as the Axis of Resistance, which have also entered the fray with attacks from Yemen and Iraq in support of Hamas during the Gaza war.
In the early days of the conflict, former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal hinted at frustration over the scale of Hezbollah’s intervention, thanking the group but saying “the battle requires more.”
Over the last year, Israel has killed around 500 Hezbollah fighters, including its top military commander Fuad Shukr. The toll is greater than Hezbollah’s losses in its 2006 war with Israel. Hezbollah has said it had no advance knowledge of the Oct. 7 attack, which Sinwar helped plan.
Sinwar also thanked Nasrallah for a letter he sent expressing condolences for the death of Ismail Haniyeh, the former Hamas leader killed in Tehran in July in an assassination widely believed to have been carried out by Israel.
The hostilities across the Lebanese-Israeli border have forced tens of thousands of people to leave both sides of the frontier. The risk of escalation has loomed large.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday that Israeli forces are near to fulfilling their mission in Gaza and their focus will turn to the Lebanon border.
Israeli leaders have said they would prefer to resolve the conflict through an agreement that would push Hezbollah away from the border. Hezbollah has said that it will continue fighting as long as the Gaza war continues.
Summit of the Future: Pakistan says plight of Gazans ‘open mockery’ of international community
- The statement comes days after Israeli strikes on a Gaza school-turned-shelter killed 18 people, including six UNRWA staff
- Pakistan does not recognize the state of Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said the plight of the Gazans was an “open mockery” of the international community and in stark contrast to the idea of global unity and justice days after Israeli forces killed another 18 people in strikes on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza.
The Pakistan prime minister said this while addressing the first virtual session of the Summit of the Future at the United Nations (UN) in New York, where he spoke about the ongoing Israeli military actions in Gaza.
The statement came after an Israeli attack flattened part of the UN-run Al-Jawni school in Nuseirat on Wednesday. UNRWA said six of its staff were killed in two Israeli strikes on the school, drawing global condemnation.
“Today, in times of unprecedented global challenges and escalating conflicts, we are at risk of permanently damaging the notion of we,” PM Sharif said in his virtual address. “A collective we that requires a degree of justice. The plight of the people of Gaza is a mockery of this we.”
Israel launched a war on Gaza on Oct. 7 after Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Israeli military campaign has since demolished swathes of the besieged enclave, killed more than 40,500 people, displaced nearly all of its 2.3 million people multiple times, and given rise to deadly hunger and disease.
Pakistan does not recognize the state of Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, the South Asian country has repeatedly raised the issue at the UN and demanded international powers and multilateral bodies stop Israeli military actions. Pakistan has also dispatched several aid consignments for the Palestinians.
Speaking further, Sharif warned the prevailing global issues could undermine the sense of unity between countries, saying the world was facing significant problems that were straining international relations and cooperation.
“This we becomes marred amidst rising debt burdens for the poor, increasing poverty, growing inequality, intolerance, terrorism, violence, illegal foreign occupation and a skewed approach to climate adaptation,” he added.
He called for significant reforms in the international financial framework to achieve sustainable developmental goals for economically weak nations. This required enhanced concessional financing, increased official development assistance, and greater lending from multilateral development banks, he added.
Germany arrests Syrian national over plot to kill soldiers
- Germany is tightening border controls after recent deadly knife attacks in which the suspects were asylum seekers
MUNICH: A 27-year-old Syrian national suspected of radical Islamist views has been arrested over a plot to kill German soldiers with machetes in the Bavarian town of Hof, prosecutors said on Friday.
The accused obtained two machetes approximately 40 cm (15.75 inches) long. He planned to attack Bundeswehr soldiers in Hof who were spending their lunch break there, and to kill as many of them as possible, a statement said.
“With the act, the accused wanted to attract attention and create a feeling of uncertainty among the population,” it said.
Germany is tightening border controls after recent deadly knife attacks in which the suspects were asylum seekers.
The Daesh group claimed responsibility for a knife attack in the western city of Solingen that killed three people in August.
Immigration and security concerns have shot up the agenda ahead of elections in the state of Brandenburg, where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is polling strongly.
Body of activist shot in West Bank arrives in Turkiye
- The UN rights office has accused Israeli forces of shooting Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the head
- Her family said she was ‘shot in the head and killed by a bullet from an Israeli soldier’
ISTANBUL: The body of a US-Turkish activist, shot dead by Israeli forces while protesting against illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, arrived in Turkiye on Friday.
The killing last week of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, has sparked international condemnation.
The United Nations rights office has accused Israeli forces of shooting Eygi in the head.
The Israeli army has acknowledged opening fire in the area and has said it is looking into the case.
Turkish officials, including Istanbul governor Davut, Gul attended the ceremony at Istanbul’s airport, where they prayed before the coffin wrapped in the Turkish flag.
Ankara has launched an investigation into Eygi’s death during a protest in the occupied West Bank town of Beita.
It has also petitioned the UN to launch an independent inquiry into the killing.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a vocal opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza, has vowed to ensure “that Aysenur Ezgi’s death does not go unpunished.”
Her family said she was “shot in the head and killed by a bullet from an Israeli soldier” during a weekly demonstration against Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law.
US President Joe Biden called on Wednesday for Israel to provide “full accountability” and demanded it “do more” to avoid such killings.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said on Tuesday that increased violence in the occupied West Bank meant it risked becoming “a new Gaza.”
Eygi’s family is hoping to hold her funeral on Saturday in the western coastal town of Didim.
“It’s sad but it’s also a source of pride for Didim,” Eygi’s uncle Ali Tikkim, 67, who lives in the town, said on Wednesday.
