Two explosive devices have detonated in central Damascus close to a hotel where French President Emmanuel Macron was due to stay, wounding at least 18 people, Syria’s Interior Ministry has said.
The blasts struck on July 7 as Macron met Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa at the presidential palace, in the first visit to Syria by a major Western leader since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in 2024.
Macron’s office said he was safe and had not heard the explosions, adding that his programme would continue as planned. The Elysée said he had left the hotel and was on his way to the meeting when the devices went off.
The Interior Ministry said four of the wounded were police officers and that no deaths had been reported. One device had been placed in a parked car and the other in a rubbish bin.
Security forces had located both devices and they exploded as preparations were under way to dismantle them, the ministry said. It added that the site lay outside the security perimeter around Macron’s residence and posed no direct threat to the visit.
No group has claimed responsibility. Islamic State has claimed a series of attacks on government forces since February, when it said it was opening a new phase of operations against al-Sharaa’s administration.
Footage shared on social media showed a van and a motorcycle ablaze on a busy street near the Tourism Ministry and the Damascus National Museum, opposite the hotel.
Macron arrived in the Syrian capital on the evening of July 6 with a business delegation, including the heads of TotalEnergies and shipping group CMA CGM. Syria is seeking foreign investment to help rebuild after 14 years of war.
In a post on X, Macron said he had come to express France’s commitment to the Syrian people and called for “a sovereign Syria, united in its diversity”. The two leaders were expected to sign several memorandums of understanding.
Al-Sharaa, a former leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, took power after leading the insurgency that ousted Assad. He has sought to reassure minorities and win Western backing, though his rule has been marked by sporadic sectarian violence.
Macron has pushed the European Union and the United States to lift most sanctions on Syria. He was due to travel on to a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, later on July 7.
The attack came after a bombing at a café near the Justice Palace in Damascus on July 2 killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 20.
