Two bombs explode near Macron's hotel in Damascus; 18 injured

Two homemade bombs detonated in central Damascus on Tuesday, injuring 18 people, including four police officers, during the second day of French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to Syria. The blasts occurred near the Four Seasons hotel where Macron was staying, but the French leader had already departed and was unharmed, according to the Elysee Palace. The Syrian Interior Ministry reported the bombs were placed in a vehicle and a trash container about 200 meters apart. The devices exploded "while preparations were underway" to dismantle them, the ministry stated.

Witnesses described seeing traffic officers injured on the ground and the area being evacuated. Windows of the Ministry of Tourism, opposite the hotel, were shattered, and bloodstains and metal fragments were found nearby. A significant security presence, including ambulances, was deployed to the scene.

Macron was en route to a meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the presidential palace when the explosions occurred. Journalists traveling with the French delegation did not hear the blasts. Earlier, Macron had met with civil society representatives at the hotel. The visit marks the first by a Western leader to Syria since 2024, following the fall of Bashar al-Assad and the rise of an Islamist coalition in December 2024. The trip comes days after a bomb attack killed 10 people in Damascus, highlighting the country's fragile peace process after more than 13 years of civil war.

Macron's agenda included discussions with al-Sharaa on the country's reconstruction and a message of "unity" and "plurality." Several French business leaders, including Total Energies CEO Patrick Pouyanné, are part of Macron's delegation. Pouyanné suggested Syria could become a key transit country for oil from Iraq to the Mediterranean, offering alternative routes to the Strait of Hormuz.