SIM cards and internet
Two operators: Syriatel and MTN. A line is opened against your passport and entry stamp, registration is required, and international eSIM cover is thin.
Two mobile operators run in the country: Syriatel and MTN Syria. Both sell prepaid lines, and for a foreigner the only route with either is an official branch.
How to get a line
Go to an official Syriatel or MTN branch with your passport. Registration is mandatory: your passport goes into the national system, the entry stamp is checked, and they ask for a written address where you are staying — the name of your hotel is enough. Activation usually takes between fifteen minutes and an hour, occasionally longer. Your handset has to be unlocked.
Do not buy a line from a street stall: they cannot complete national registration and the line dies within days.
Airport or city
There is an operator desk at Damascus airport after passport control and baggage, before the public exit. Opening hours are irregular and an overnight arrival is likely to find it shut. The dependable option is a city branch the next morning.
Coverage
3G reaches most of the country. 4G works in the larger cities: Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Latakia and Tartus. On intercity roads and in the countryside the signal drops; heading to somewhere like Krak des Chevaliers or Saint Simeon, rely on an offline map.
eSIM
MTN has issued eSIMs at its service centres since 2025. International eSIM providers still cover Syria thinly — most of the big names carry no Syria plan at all. If you plan to land already connected, confirm your provider genuinely covers Syria before you pay.
Power and wifi
Wifi is common in hotels and cafes, but its speed and continuity follow the electricity. Grid cuts are a daily fact; many places run on a generator, and outside generator hours the internet goes with the lights. Carry a solid power bank.
Tips
- Buy only from an official Syriatel or MTN branch; stall lines get cut off
- You need a passport, the entry stamp, an unlocked phone and a written address
- The airport desk keeps irregular hours; a city branch is safer
- Coverage drops on intercity roads — download an offline map
- A power cut takes the wifi with it; carry a power bank
Transparency
- How this was chosen
- This page carries the fastest-ageing information on the site: visa rules, exchange rates, border crossings and SIM prices change several times a year. The verification date above says when the facts were last put through their sources; for anything later, check your own foreign ministry travel advice and a Syrian consulate. No figure that is not known for certain is written here.
- Facts checked
- August 2026
- Last updated
- August 20, 2026