WATCH: Syria Records First Visa Payment In 15 Years Following U.S. Delisting

Would that be cash or card, Mr. President?

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa used a Visa card to pay a restaurant bill in Damascus this week, completing what was reported to be Syria’s first international Visa transaction in approximately 15 years.

Video from the symbolic moment shows al-Sharaa tapping his bank card on a payment terminal while dining in the Syrian capital. The transaction was reportedly conducted alongside Safwat Raslan, the governor of the Central Bank of Syria.

The payment came shortly after the United States officially removed Syria from its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Syria had held the designation since 1979, making it one of the longest-listed countries.

The designation imposed significant restrictions on foreign assistance, defense exports and international financial transactions. Combined with other sanctions imposed during the rule of Bashar al-Assad, the measures left most Syrians cut off from international banking networks and prevented the use of major payment systems such as Visa and Mastercard.

President Donald Trump’s administration began removing many of the restrictions following the fall of Assad and the rise of al-Sharaa’s government. Washington formally ended Syria’s State Sponsor of Terrorism designation after completing the required congressional review process.

Al-Sharaa, who previously led the rebel coalition that overthrew Assad, has sought to distance Syria’s new government from its militant past while rebuilding relations with the United States, Europe and Arab nations.

The Visa payment does not mean that international card services are immediately available everywhere in Syria. However, officials presented it as an important step toward reconnecting the country’s damaged economy with the global financial system and attracting foreign investment for reconstruction.

For more than 15 years, such an ordinary transaction was largely impossible. With one simple tap in Damascus, one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited capitals, Syria offered a powerful symbol of its attempt to emerge from decades of war, sanctions and international isolation.