Digital wallets have moved beyond salary payments to everyday purchases, reshaping commerce in northwest Syria while raising questions about access, security, and reliability
[IDLIB] Hassan leaves his home for the market in Sarmada, north of Idlib, to buy his family’s daily groceries. This time, he doesn’t check whether he has cash in his wallet. Instead, he simply grabs his smartphone.
At a vegetable stall, he selects tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. Once the vendor totals the bill, Hassan scans the QR code displayed at the shop, enters the amount and taps “Send.” Within seconds, a notification confirms the transaction, and the vendor nods to signal that the payment has been received.
For years, Idlib has been associated with airstrikes, displacement camps and waves of fleeing civilians, becoming synonymous with one of the Syrian war’s most devastated front lines. Today, however, a different reality is taking shape. Residents are increasingly using a smartphone app called Sham Cash to pay for bread, vegetables, coffee and medicine, reflecting a shift in how money moves through an economy long shaped by war and limited banking services.
“The app has made financial transactions much easier since it was launched,” Hassan told The Media Line. “We can now buy our daily needs or sell our goods without having to rely on paper money in many cases.”
Customer in Idlib pays for items using app. (Salma Abdulrahman / The Media Line)
The practice is not limited to food markets. At a nearby café, Ahmad orders a cup of coffee. When it is ready, he pulls out his phone, scans the payment code, and completes the transaction in seconds. Ahmad, who was visiting Sarmada from Damascus, said the experience remains unusual elsewhere in Syria. “This level of convenience in payments doesn’t exist in any other Syrian city I’ve visited,” he told The Media Line. “So far, the app hasn’t spread this widely outside this region.”
Flower shops, pharmacies, retail stores and gyms increasingly accept digital payments alongside cash, reflecting the growing role of electronic payments in everyday life. Residents of Idlib do not claim that cash has disappeared from the markets, but many say they can now complete most of their daily purchases using digital methods.
The app’s adoption expanded significantly after it became the platform for paying salaries to public-sector employees and retirees, transforming it from a money-transfer service into a tool used for daily shopping, bill payments and other services. Idlib’s financial landscape has long been distinct from the rest of Syria.
After Idlib fell outside the control of the former Assad government, the Turkish lira became widely used in local markets alongside the US dollar, while the Syrian pound played a more limited role than in many other parts of the country. Today, as Syria’s transitional government seeks to reinforce use of the Syrian pound, the region is witnessing another financial shift with the growing adoption of digital payment applications, making smartphones an increasingly essential part of everyday commerce.
In the past, we had to stand in line for hours to collect our pensions. Now the money arrives on my phone while I’m at home.
According to a government source who spoke to The Media Line, the app now serves about 1.25 million public employees and retirees who receive their salaries through the platform. Nofal Al-Ahmad, a retiree from Idlib, said his daily routine has changed since he began receiving his pension through the app. “In the past, we had to stand in line for hours to collect our pensions,” he told The Media Line. “Now the money arrives on my phone while I’m at home, and I can immediately use it to buy what I need without carrying cash.”
The app has also become an integral part of store owners’ business operations. Mohammad Al-Qasim, a veterinary pharmacist in Idlib, said he prefers receiving payments through Sham Cash because it simplifies financial transactions with suppliers. “Most of my customers are sheep and cattle breeders, and a large percentage of them pay through the app,” he told The Media Line. “Like most business owners in Idlib, we receive payments this way and later transfer money to suppliers. The app has become an essential part of our daily transactions.”
Abu Khaled, who owns a candy store in Sarmada, said digital payments have become routine for his customers. “Most customers pay for sweets through the app,” he told The Media Line. “It has become part of people’s daily lives, and after getting used to it, it no longer makes sense not to use it.”
Not everyone, however, has embraced the shift. Umm Mahmoud, who receives her husband’s pension through Sham Cash, said the app makes collecting the payment easier, but she still prefers holding cash. “As soon as the pension arrives on my phone, I go directly to a money exchange office to withdraw it,” she told The Media Line. “I trust paper money more.”
I feel more secure when I have cash in hand
Government employee Akram Al-Qasim shares that view. While he acknowledged that the app has simplified financial transactions, he said he still withdraws his salary in cash immediately after receiving it. “I feel more secure when I have cash in hand,” he told The Media Line. “That’s why I withdraw my salary as soon as it arrives.”
The discussion extends beyond personal preferences for digital or cash payments to the uneven adoption of the technology across Syria. Hamza Zidan, who owns a company selling loudspeakers in Idlib, said the difference becomes obvious whenever he travels to other Syrian provinces. “I travel between Aleppo, Homs and Damascus,” he told The Media Line. “Whenever I ask to pay through Sham Cash, vendors are often surprised, or refuse because they don’t use it.”
Gym member pays with app. (Salma Abdulrahman / The Media Line)
As the app’s use continues to expand, the company behind Sham Cash says it is working to improve its services and strengthen its technical infrastructure. Mahmoud Al-Sheikh, a Sham Cash employee, told The Media Line that recent updates include improvements to the user interface, an expansion of cash withdrawal and deposit services through the addition of Al-Haram and Al-Fouad exchange companies, and enhanced security features such as fingerprint or PIN authentication.
Other updates include the option to hide account balances and support for multiple languages. He said that the company is also working to improve the app’s performance, particularly in areas with weak internet connectivity, while expanding its network of merchants and the range of services available through the platform.
Al-Sheikh warned that fake social media pages and groups posing as the app’s technical support team have sought users’ personal information, including email addresses and passwords. He said Sham Cash does not request such information through social media and urged users to ignore and report fraudulent accounts. Despite the app’s growing popularity, users still face challenges, particularly internet outages and technical disruptions that can delay transactions.
In March 2026, the app experienced a several-hour outage amid reports that it had been targeted by a cyberattack. Sham Cash denied that any user data had been compromised, saying the disruption was caused by a technical issue that was later resolved.
Umm Saeed recalled an encounter that surprised her while shopping at a market in Idlib. “A woman stopped me and asked for help,” she told The Media Line. “I told her I wasn’t carrying any cash because I use the Sham Cash app. To my surprise, she pulled out her phone, opened a QR payment code and asked me to transfer the money through the app.” The story illustrates just how far digital payments have spread, extending beyond stores and businesses into situations where many people would never have expected to see them.
From vegetable vendors and cafés to pharmacies, flower shops and candy stores, the smartphone has become more than a communication device. For many residents of Idlib, it now serves as a digital wallet accompanying them through their daily lives—a transformation that remains rare elsewhere in Syria.
