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Hail Caesar?

“The North Wind and the Sun” is one of Aesop's Fables that teaches about the superiority of persuasion over force. In it the sun and the wind argue as to who can force a traveller to remove his cloak, for all the wind blowing the traveller holds on tight, whereas the burning heat from the sun
persuades him to take it off. In Syria almost ten years of fighting has failed to remove President Assad from power, but since June 17 the most wide-ranging U.S. sanctions ever applied against Syria have gone into effect. Could sanctions succeed where force has failed?
“The Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act”, passed into law as part of the most recent National Defense Authorization Act. Fittingly it is named after a defector who took 53,275 photographs of the bodies of detainees from two military hospitals and smuggled them out of the country. In response to the torrent of images of mutilated corpses, the head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, stated, "the mass scale of deaths of detainees suggests that the Government of Syria is responsible for acts that amount to extermination as a crime against humanity."
If the arc of justice bends long, then a critical question is what kind of impact will the Caesar Sanctions have? In expanding sanctions to include third parties, the Caesar Act explicitly tries to raise the costs of economic engagement with the Assad regime. Already the Coronavirus crisis has caused seismic economic waves to hit war ravaged Syria. The Syrian currency has effectively collapsed, with areas outside of the Regime’s control in the north starting to use the Turkish Lira. It’s worth remembering that when Bashar al-Assad inherited the presidency from his father two decades ago, Syria was a middle-income country. Now over 80% of its people are poor.
The US special envoy for Syria, James Jeffrey claimed that the crumbling Syrian currency was partly due to US actions; “the Syrian pound’s collapse proves that Russia and Iran are no longer able to float the Assad regime while the regime itself is no longer able to manage an effective economic policy, or launder money in Lebanese banks”.
A fragile country already trying to cope with a poverty crisis now faces a clampdown to those third parties that were providing such essential support in propping up the Regime. Of course the nominal purpose of the sanctions is not to change the Regime itself but rather affect its behaviour, outlining specifically aims to erode the Regime’s capacity to wage war, and to ‘create meaningful economic incentives to induce the Assad regime to free political detainees, end violence against civilians, and demonstrate “irreversible progress” toward the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254’.
Understandably many are nervous as to what kind of impact these new restrictions will have on the average Syrian citizen. People remember the devastating impact of the sanctions that isolated Iraq throughout the 1990s leading to estimates of hundreds of thousands of child deaths. The danger is that Caesar will be further punishment rather and a solution to Syria’s woes.
Defenders of the sanctions argue that lessons have been learnt from the past and that this new approach is targeted and contains provisos to “enhance the protection of civilians.” One way of doing this is to explicitly avoid penalizing humanitarian assistance, including medical and food supplies intended for civilian use. However, the Regime itself has proved itself willing to politicise this supposedly neutral assistance and few can doubt the lengths they are willing to go to in order to preserve their rule.
If the sanctions can avoid harming normal Syrians whilst deterring third party allies from investing the Regime’s war machine then it seems hard to argue with them, but it is a big “if” that could rapidly spiral into further hardships for Syrians. Interestingly the Caesar sanctions highlight how far we’ve come from that narrative of the Regime being secure and now looking to reap the benefits of reconstruction. Instead their vulnerability and reliance on external support, that could now be choked, has been exposed something that may have been on the minds of the protestors that took to the streets in the city of Suweida. The coming months will reveal the true cost of the sanctions to the Syria elite, its people and its allies all against the backdrop of an impending Coronavirus outbreak.
by : jamse danselow
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BENEFIT AGM approves 10%...
- March 27, 2025
BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the company’s headquarters in the Seef District.
During the meeting, shareholders approved all items listed on the agenda, including the ratification of the minutes of the previous AGM held on 26 March 2024. The session reviewed and approved the Board’s Annual Report on the company’s activities and financial performance for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2024, and the shareholders expressed their satisfaction with the company’s operational and financial results during the reporting period.
The meeting also reviewed the Independent External Auditor’s Report on the company’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024. Subsequently, the shareholders approved the audited financial statements for the fiscal year. Based on the Board’s recommendation, the shareholders approved the distribution of a cash dividend equivalent to 10% of the paid-up share capital.
Furthermore, the shareholders endorsed the allocation of a total amount of BD 172,500 as remuneration to the members of the Board for the year ended 31 December 2024, subject to prior clearance by related authorities.
The extension of the current composition of the Board was approved, which includes ten members and one CBB observer, for a further six-month term, expiring in September 2025, pending no objection from the CBB.
The meeting reviewed and approved the Corporate Governance Report for 2024, which affirmed the company’s full compliance with the corporate governance directives issued by the CBB and other applicable regulatory frameworks. The AGM absolved the Board Members of liability for any of their actions during the year ending on 31st December 2024, in accordance with the Commercial Companies Law.
In alignment with regulatory requirements, the session approved the reappointment of Ernst & Young (EY) as the company’s External Auditors for the fiscal year 2025, covering both the parent company and its subsidiaries—Sinnad and Bahrain FinTech Bay. The Board was authorised to determine the external auditors’ professional fees, subject to approval from the CBB, and the meeting concluded with a discussion of any additional issues as per Article (207) of the Commercial Companies Law.
Speaking on the company’s performance, Mr. Mohamed Al Bastaki, Chairman BENEFIT , stated: “In terms of the financial results for 2024, I am pleased to say that the year gone by has also been proved to be a success in delivering tangible results. Growth rate for 2024 was 19 per cent. Revenue for the year was BD 17 M (US$ 45.3 Million) and net profit was 2 Million ($ 5.3 Million).
Mr. Al Bastaki also announced that the Board had formally adopted a new three-year strategic roadmap to commence in 2025. The strategy encompasses a phased international expansion, optimisation of internal operations, enhanced revenue diversification, long-term sustainability initiatives, and the advancement of innovation and digital transformation initiatives across all service lines.
“I extend my sincere appreciation to the CBB for its continued support of BENEFIT and its pivotal role in fostering a stable and progressive regulatory environment for the Kingdom’s banking and financial sector—an environment that has significantly reinforced Bahrain’s standing as a leading financial hub in the region,” said Mr. Al Bastaki. “I would also like to thank our partner banks and valued customers for their trust, and our shareholders for their ongoing encouragement. The achievements of 2024 set a strong precedent, and I am confident they will serve as a foundation for yet another successful and impactful year ahead.”
Chief Executive of BENEFIT; Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi commented, “The year 2024 represented another pivotal chapter in BENEFIT ’s evolution. We achieved substantial progress in advancing our digital strategy across multiple sectors, while reinforcing our long-term commitment to the development of Bahrain’s financial services and payments landscape. Throughout the year, we remained firmly aligned with our objective of delivering measurable value to our shareholders, strategic partners, and customers. At the same time, we continued to play an active role in enabling Bahrain’s digital economy by introducing innovative solutions and service enhancements that directly address market needs and future opportunities.”
Mr. AlJanahi affirmed that BENEFIT has successfully developed a robust and well-integrated payment network that connects individuals and businesses across Bahrain, accelerating the adoption of emerging technologies in the banking and financial services sector and reinforcing Bahrain’s position as a growing fintech hub, and added, “Our achievements of the past year reflect a long-term vision to establish a resilient electronic payment infrastructure that supports the Kingdom’s digital economy. Key developments in 2024 included the implementation of central authentication for open banking via BENEFIT Pay”
Mr. AlJanahi concluded by thanking the Board for its strategic direction, the company’s staff for their continued dedication, and the Central Bank of Bahrain, member banks, and shareholders for their valuable partnership and confidence in the company’s long-term vision.
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