Visa and Mastercard process first international card transactions in Syria

Visa and Mastercard have processed the first international card payments in Syria, two days after the United States removed the country’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. For PSPs, acquiring teams, and bank partners, this is the sort of event that turns “closed market” into “watch closely, because the rules just moved.”

1. According to Reuters, Mastercard completed the transaction with Qatar National Bank (QNB Group), while Visa processed its payment with Lebanon’s Fransabank. The payments were made in Damascus, and Syria’s Foreign Media Department posted a video on X showing President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Central Bank head Mohammed Safwat Raslan paying for coffee by card.
2. The Syrian Foreign Media Department said the simple act of paying by card had been impossible for more than 15 years. In its post, it framed the transaction as evidence that Syria was returning to the global financial system.
3. Syria’s Central Bank said the resumption of international bank payments followed months of technical preparation. On 4 May 2026, the bank had allowed banks and local companies to work with global payment systems, including Visa and Mastercard, and described that move as a strategic shift.
4. The regulatory backdrop changed quickly. The United States removed Syria’s state-sponsor-of-terrorism status on 24 August 2026, after partially easing sanctions, removing transitional president Ahmed al-Sharaa from a sanctions list in November 2025, and отмена in December 2025 of the Caesar Act sanctions law. Reuters said the 1979 designation had remained the main deterrent for investors and financial institutions.
5. Reuters also noted that the first card payments came after months of technical work and a controlled experiment by the Syrian company Bimera, which completed a Visa and Mastercard payment to demonstrate that the country’s banking system could process such transactions.

For high-risk operators and their payment providers, the practical point is simple: when a jurisdiction starts reopening card acceptance after years of isolation, the issue is not just whether the transaction goes through. It is which banks, which schemes, and which regulatory approvals are now in play.