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For the first time in more than 15 years, someone in Damascus can swipe a Visa card and have it actually work. On August 27, Visa and Mastercard facilitated the first international card transactions in Syria, a milestone that would have been unthinkable just a year ago.
The symbolic first transaction? Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa buying coffee at a Damascus restaurant with a Visa card.
How Syria got reconnected
Syria had been cut off from the global financial system for years, with sanctions tightening significantly after the civil war erupted in 2011. The country’s designation on the US state sponsors of terrorism list — first applied in 1979 — made it effectively radioactive for any American financial institution.
That changed when the US removed Syria from the list, a decision that took effect after a 45-day congressional review period. The US Treasury subsequently confirmed that American financial institutions could establish relationships with Syrian clients once sanctions on relevant parties were lifted.
But the technical groundwork started well before the official delisting. Visa and the Syrian Central Bank struck an agreement back in December 2025, and preparatory trials for international card functionality kicked off as early as May 2026. Regional banks in Lebanon and Qatar played supporting roles in building out the necessary infrastructure.
A country that runs on cash
Syria has a population of roughly 25 million people, and somewhere between 80% and 90% of them are classified as unbanked. The economy is overwhelmingly cash-based, a reality shaped by years of conflict, sanctions, and institutional collapse.
Of course, there’s a canyon between opportunity and execution. The country’s point-of-sale terminal infrastructure is limited at best. Power reliability remains a serious concern, which is a problem when your payment system requires electricity and internet connectivity to function.
What the delisting actually unlocks
The removal of Syria’s terrorism designation does more than let people tap their cards at restaurants. It fundamentally changes the risk calculus for every financial institution, investment fund, and multinational corporation that has stayed away from the country for compliance reasons. Reconstruction financing, foreign direct investment, correspondent banking relationships, and trade credit all become theoretically possible again.
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