Explosions wound 18 in Damascus during Macron's visit
Two explosions struck central Damascus near the Four Seasons Hotel and the tourism ministry on Tuesday, shortly after French President Emmanuel Macron’s motorcade left the area for the presidential palace. Syria’s interior ministry reported 18 people wounded, including four police officers. The first device went off in a rubbish bin, followed by a second blast meters away near a parked ambulance.
No group claimed responsibility. Syrian authorities said security forces had found the explosives and that a detonation occurred while they were trying to dismantle them, adding that the blasts fell outside Macron’s security perimeter and posed no direct threat. Several analysts nonetheless assessed the French delegation as the likely intended target, calling the placement a significant security lapse in a capital still consolidating control under President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Macron said he did not hear the explosions, reached the palace safely for talks with al-Sharaa, and continued his program — the first visit by a French head of state since the fall of Bashar al-Assad. The incident underscores how fragile security remains in post-Assad Syria even as European governments move to re-engage with Damascus.