News
Blinx Brings Fresh Storytelling & News To Middle Eastern Youth
The digital media hub aims to connect and empower Gen Z and Millennial viewers across a range of platforms.
Blinx, the Middle East’s new digital media hub, aims to empower Gen Z and Millennial viewers using digital storytelling and news stories across a range of platforms and devices.
Since being announced in March 2023, Blinx has been on a mission to deliver the most authentic narratives and culturally relevant content to young Middle Easterners.
Nakhle Elhage, General Manager of Blinx, explained: “We’ve made remarkable strides since our brand name announcement. The launch of Blinx is not just about compelling content creation. It’s a digital media powerhouse that promotes storytelling excellence in a myriad of genres like entertainment, infotainment, news, business, lifestyle, sports, self-development, climate change, and more. Our Smart TV App also offers exclusive long-form content such as investigative journalism, talk shows, and live broadcasts”.
The MENA region currently has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world, at over 26%. Blinx already employs around 150 young professionals, helping to buck the negative trend while simultaneously offering a voice to the disaffected youth. “Content creators and creative storytellers are on a mission to shift perspectives,” Elhage said. “Not only are they talented and bold, but they also embody the youth’s energy, dynamism, and resourcefulness that is Blinx”.
Blinx is headquartered in Dubai’s Media City. The company has already doubled in size since its launch and now boasts a wealth of cutting-edge technology in its production facility. Alongside state-of-the-art VR technology, Blinx also has the capability to create Metaverse and extended reality content and is also trialing AI tools alongside advanced analytics.
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“Technology is designed to transport audiences beyond traditional storytelling, pushing the limits of innovation, news, information, data, and others,” said Fadi Radi, Blinx’s Chief Creative Officer. “Our featured stories cater to tech-savvy youth, offering a blend of entertainment and insightful inspiration. End-users can effortlessly swipe through stories, engaging with content creators and peers”.
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.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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