Bomb attack rocks Damascus during French President Macron’s visit

• Two bombs exploded near the hotel where French President Macron was meeting in Damascus, injuring 18 people but not disrupting his schedule or meetings with Syrian officials.
• Macron is the first EU head of state to visit Syria since rebels led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa overthrew Bashar al-Assad in 2024, highlighting Syria's political transformation.
• The blasts reflect ongoing security challenges amid continued violence from militant groups like ISIS and tensions among Syria's religious and ethnic communities.

DAMASCUS – Two bombs exploded on July 7 near a hotel in Damascus where French President Emmanuel Macron spent the night, wounding 18 people and overshadowing the first visit to Syria by a European Union head of state since Bashar al-Assad was toppled.

Macron, whose motorcade left the hotel shortly before the blasts, pressed ahead with his visit, meeting President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the presidential palace. His office said he had not heard the blasts.

The attack underlined lingering security challenges facing Sharaa, a former Al-Qaeda commander who has built close ties with Western states as he has sought to stabilise and rebuild a country shattered by 13 years of civil war.

The explosions struck a busy area between the Syrian Tourism Ministry and the national museum across the street from the Four Seasons hotel, where a source in Macron’s delegation and Syrian security sources said he had spent the night and had met civil society groups on the morning of July 7.

In a post on social media platform X, Macron said his visit to Syria continues.

“Nothing can undermine the desire of Syrians to live in a fully sovereign and secure Syria,” he posted. “This morning, I met Syria in all its diversity, and I saw dignity, courage and determination.”

Macron, who led calls for the lifting of Western sanctions on Syria in 2025, was accompanied by business leaders, including the chief executive officers of TotalEnergies and shipping group CMA CGM.

The Elysee said CMA CGM signed a partnership deal with Syria, including air cargo freight handling, at Damascus airport, and that France and Syria would start a process to restore €51 million (S$75 million) of assets to Syria that were confiscated from the late Rifaat al-Assad, Bashar’s uncle.

Macron said France was ready to help rebuild Syria’s economy and banking sector.

Flames and billowing smoke

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bomb attacks on July 7.

The first blast hit soon after Macron’s motorcade left for the presidential palace. Reuters footage showed flames and smoke billowing from a trash can when 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 some two dozen people had gathered. Flames and thick black smoke were seen billowing from close to the shops behind, as emergency personnel worked to put out the blaze.

Reuters video footage showed Macron’s motorcade heading along a highway towards the presidential palace before the blasts.

A video published by Syrian state media then showed him standing alongside Sharaa and meeting other Syrian officials and military officers.

Aron Lund of the Century International think-tank said such attacks could dent confidence in Syria’s recovery, but they posed no threat to government control over the country.

“It’s a worrying phenomenon, but I don’t think we should overstate it. It’s been 1½ years and Islamic State hasn’t re-emerged in the way many feared,” he said.

Militant group ISIS, an adversary of Sharaa during the civil war, has claimed a series of attacks on government forces in Syria since February, when the jihadist group announced what it described as a new phase of operations against his government.

Pledge to build new order tested by conflict

The Syrian Interior Ministry said security forces had identified two bombs planted near the Tourism Ministry and had been preparing to defuse them when they went off, describing the devices as crudely made.

The bombs – one of them placed in a car parked on the roadside and the other in a trash can – were planted outside a security cordon around Macron’s place of residence, and posed no threat to his visit, the ministry said.

Internal security forces have launched search operations to identify those responsible, it said.

The French Presidency said the blasts were not audible from the presidential motorcade and a Reuters journalist with the press group accompanying Macron did not hear the blast or see any commotion during the French President’s morning events.

Last week, a bomb at a Damascus cafe killed nine people and wounded 20 others. There was no claim of responsibility.

Sharaa, a member of Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority, has pledged to build an inclusive new order in Syria since ending more than five decades of iron-fisted rule by the Assad family. But his promise has been tested by bouts of violence pitting pro-government forces against members of religious and ethnic minority groups, with many hundreds killed in 2025. REUTERS