William Duff: Man who helped build Dubai dies

February 16, 2014

Dubai, Feb 16: William ‘Bill’ Duff, who served as Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum’s trusted financial expert during the early development of the emirate, passed away on Friday at his residence in Jumeirah. He was 92.

Duff died of natural causes at 4.30pm on Friday. He is survived by his wife, Irenka, two daughters, Diana and Sheila, and four grandchildren.

“The good thing was he passed away peacefully,” Sheila Duff-Earles, Duff’s youngest daughter, said.

“He was an excellent father. He was a fair man. He totally dedicated his life to working with the Arabs here — he treated Arabs as if they were his family,” she added.

Prior to coming to Dubai in 1960, Duff, an Oxford-educated classical Arabic speaker, was a financial expert who worked in banking in Kuwait in the 1950s. The British Arabist met Shaikh Rashid, the then Dubai ruler, in 1959 and was appointed as his financial adviser in 1960.

Duff set up the Dubai Department of Finance and the Dubai Customs. He was also a founder member of the Seamens Mission and also instrumental in the establishment of Dubai Ports World and Jebel Ali Free Zone.

He established the first British curriculum kindergarten, primary and secondary school, the Dubai English Speaking School, and was the founding member of the Christian Cemetery Committee and the Dubai Electricity Co, which is now the Dubai Water and Electricity Authority.

In 2002, the British Business Group honoured Duff for his promotion of the close relations between the UK and Dubai.

During his career Duff worked to engineer the building blocks of the vision Shaikh Rashid and his sons and further represented the interests of the British community in Dubai for more than 35 years.

“He was very committed to Dubai and very much a significant part of the growth of the emirate in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s,” said Francis Matthew.

“He was very straightforward, very honourable, and very transparent,” he added.

Friends who knew Duff said he would be remembered for his strength of character and integrity.

“He was a good friend, very upright, and very principled. He’ll be remembered as one of the people closest to Shaikh Rashid and instrumental in building the nation and the growth of Dubai under Shaikh Rashid’s rule,” said James Hancock, Executive Director of GMCClinics and family friend of Duff for almost 40 years.

For Gerald Lawless, President and Group CEO of Jumeirah Group who first met Duff in 1978, Duff was an example to all.

“All I can say is, in every opportunity that I met him, he was a real gentleman, a great example of the expatriates who lived in Dubai and contributed to this nation. He loved Dubai. His generation contributed so much and was a big part of the fabric of Dubai for so long,” Lawless said.

Those who wish to pay their respects may go to the family home in Jumeirah next to the Union House on Thursday, February 20, between 4.30pm and 8pm.

Funeral plans have yet to be finalised but his daughters say their father will be buried in Dubai, which he has always considered his first home.

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Syrian Town erupts after Israeli forces enter Beit Jinn; heavy casualties reported

News Network

November 28,2025

Several Syrians were killed and more than two dozen others injured in Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Damascus, amid intensified incursions by the occupying regime since the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rule.

Syrian state TV reported that the casualties occurred during an overnight Israeli assault involving helicopters and drones on the town of Beit Jinn in the Damascus countryside. The attack followed an Israeli military unit’s entry into the town, where they were surrounded by local residents, leading to gunfire and direct confrontations.

According to the report, “The occupation army’s helicopters and artillery shelled Beit Jinn, located at the foothills of Mount Hermon, resulting in 13 martyrs and 25 injured civilians.” The broadcaster did not specify the full extent of damage.

Al-Ikhbariyah Syria confirmed that the shelling coincided with Israeli soldiers entering Beit Jinn, while artillery pounded surrounding areas. The broadcaster stated that the escalation began after local residents clashed with an Israeli patrol that had infiltrated the southern town and “kidnapped” three young men.

Following a two-hour exchange of heavy fire, Israeli forces withdrew and repositioned on the hill of Butt al-Warda at the town’s outskirts.

Israeli media acknowledged that six soldiers were wounded in the clashes—three of them seriously—describing the confrontation as a “sudden ambush” that forced the deployment of reserve units and air support to secure an exit route. No further details were provided.

The aggression has fueled renewed displacement from Beit Jinn, with residents fleeing to nearby villages amid increasingly frequent Israeli attacks.

The raid came just a day after Israeli troops carried out another ground incursion into Umm al-Luqas village in Quneitra province. According to SANA, an Israeli unit in four vehicles entered the village, raided several homes, and later withdrew.

Syria condemned the repeated incursions as violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and UN resolutions, urging the international community to enforce compliance and pressure Israel to halt its operations and withdraw fully.

Israel has expanded its attacks across Syrian territory following the collapse of the Assad government last year. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly instructed his forces to push deeper into Syrian territory and seize strategic positions.

Meanwhile, critics say the HTS-led interim government’s inaction and growing normalization gestures toward Israel have emboldened Tel Aviv to intensify its military operations. HTS, formerly linked to al-Qaeda, seized control of Damascus last December, formally ending Assad’s rule.

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