News

Bahraini Artist Hala Al-Abbasi Creates Ramadan Stickers For Instagram

To celebrate Ramadan, Hala Al-Abbasi was approached by Instagram and asked to create a series of new stickers inspired by her favorite aspects of the holy month.

Published

5 years ago

April 21, 2021

Joanna Melki

Hala Al-Abbasi

For many artists, being approached by a major social media network to create a piece of art for all hundreds of millions of users to enjoy is a dream come true. For Bahraini artist Hala Al-Abbasi, it’s reality.

To celebrate Ramadan, Al-Abbasi was approached by Instagram and asked to create a series of new stickers inspired by her favorite aspects of the holy month. She chose to reflect on the moments people celebrating Ramadan share together, creating three unique stickers, each as dazzling as the next one.

“I am very grateful and so happy to be chosen by the Instagram team. I really loved and enjoyed working with them and am so proud to be the first in the region to work on the stickers and share them with the world,” Al-Abbasi said in an interview with Emirates Woman. “This amazing opportunity has a very special place in my heart, the love that I have put into my work has been everything to me to share and spread that with the people around the world.”

Also Read: 12 Arab Women Dominating Instagram In 2023

The collaboration between Hala Al-Abbasi and Instagram has proven successful as millions of users around the world have used her stickers in their stories.

The first of the three stickers shows a colorful mosque against a starry sky.

Instagram @Haluulie

The second one is a visual of a crescent and stars.

Instagram @Haluulie

The last one is an illustration of tea and dates.

Instagram @Haluulie

Using the three stickers is easy: simply open the Instagram Story tray and add your favorite Ramadan sticker.

“Hala hopes that her stickers will be used throughout Ramadan to mark moments of celebration, from greetings to special suhoors and iftars, all the way to celebrating Eid,” shared Instagram on its design account. Considering how well-received the stickers have been, we think it’s safe to say that Al-Abbasi’s wish will come true.

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.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

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.