Payments

Visa and Mastercard completed Syria's first international card transactions on August 27, 2026, two days after Washington rescinded the country's 1979 state-sponsor-of-terrorism designation. Mastercard routed the payment through Qatar's QNB Group; Visa used Lebanon's Fransabank as acquirer. Both are pilot transactions, not a merchant rollout — Syrian banks still lack direct network membership and AML infrastructure remains under construction.