Two bombs exploded near the Damascus hotel where French President Emmanuel Macron was holding meetings on Tuesday, injuring 18 people and underscoring Syria’s continuing security challenges, Reuters reported.
Syrian state media said the explosions struck a busy area between the Syrian tourism ministry and the national museum, across the street from the Four Seasons hotel, where Macron had been meeting civil society groups.
Macron’s office said the French president did not hear the blasts. He met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa shortly afterwards at the presidential palace, Reuters reported.
According to Syria’s state news agency, 18 people were injured in the explosions, including four police officers.
The first blast occurred soon after Macron’s motorcade left for the presidential palace. Reuters footage showed flames and smoke rising from a trash can before a second explosion was caught on camera a few metres away.
The second blast went off next to an ambulance parked at the scene, where around two dozen people had gathered.
Macron is the first head of state from a major European Union country to visit Syria since rebels led by Sharaa toppled Bashar al-Assad in 2024.
At the start of July, a bomb blast at a crowded cafe in central Damascus killed at least nine people and injured 22 others, according to Syrian state media.
