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Amazon To Deliver Thousands Of Iftar Meals Across The UAE
The e-commerce giant has partnered with the UAE Food Bank to deliver 50,000 kg of food during the Holy Month of Ramadan.
Amazon UAE has announced plans to continue its long-standing collaboration with the UAE Food Bank for the launch of the 2024 edition of “Iftar on Wheels”, a meal donation program supporting thousands of families in need. Now in its fourth year, the partnership will leverage Amazon’s massive fulfillment network to pack and distribute 50,000 kg of Iftar meals across the Emirates during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

Over the last four years, Amazon has contributed to delivering millions of fresh meals and grocery supplies to underserved communities. The 2024 edition of the Iftar on Wheels program will also kick off a company-wide volunteering initiative that will see employees dedicating thousands of hours to delivering produce to vulnerable families across the UAE.
Regarding the partnership, Manal Bin Yaroof, Executive Director of the UAE Food Bank, said, “The UAE Food Bank aims to entrench the values of social responsibility and volunteerism among individuals and organizations. We do this through sustainable partnerships with various entities to raise awareness and help reduce food waste in the country. Our partnership with Amazon is now in its fourth year and we are very happy to work together once again for the Iftar on Wheels program. Through Amazon’s scale and logistics expertise, we will further our goals by delivering meals to as many underprivileged people as possible during the Holy Month of Ramadan”.
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Iftar on Wheels is a part of Amazon’s wider global efforts to reduce food insecurity for underprivileged communities. As part of that process, the company continues to provide vital support to local partners in all of its operational regions who share the same commitment.

Prashant Saran, Director of Operations, Amazon MENA, said, “The Holy Month of Ramadan reminds us of the people who need our compassion. Amazon is committed to working side by side with local partners to make a positive impact in the community. This is a special time of the year when we continue to serve customers while at the same time utilizing our scale and expertise as a force for good in the community”.
Since its UAE launch, Amazon has continued to strengthen its presence and boost the order fulfillment experience for local customers. Today, Amazon’s operations network in the UAE spans three fulfillment centers, another three sorting centers, eight delivery stations, and a vast network of small and medium logistics businesses working as Delivery Service Partners.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
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