Syria: Al-Sharaa makes the country’s first payment by Visa card
The landmark transaction and a café in Damascus’s Old City signals Syria’s push to rejoin the global financial system after decades of sanctions and isolation
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa used a Visa card to pay at a café in Damascus’s Old City in what officials described as Syria’s first such electronic transaction in more than 15 years.
A video released by the Syrian Foreign Ministry showed al-Sharaa making the payment while accompanied by Central Bank Governor Mohammed Safwat Raslan.
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“Cash or credit, Mr. President?” the ministry wrote alongside the footage, presenting the transaction as a symbol of Syria’s return to the international financial system after years of isolation.
The payment followed the removal of Syria from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation imposed in 1979. Washington also plans to remove Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group formerly led by al-Sharaa, from its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the decisions reflected the new Syrian government’s “positive actions” and commitments to distance the country from international terrorism.
The easing of US restrictions is expected to support private investment, Syria’s reconstruction and its reintegration into the global economy.
Washington is nevertheless maintaining sanctions on officials connected to the former government of Bashar al-Assad, as well as individuals and groups it considers destabilizing forces.