Two improvised explosive devices detonated near the Four Seasons Hotel in central Damascus on Tuesday morning as French President Emmanuel Macron was en route to meet Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa at the People’s Palace — wounding 18 people, including four police officers, and casting a shadow over the most significant European diplomatic engagement with Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in late 2024. Macron was unhurt, did not hear the blasts, and continued his visit.
No group immediately claimed responsibility. But the attack — the second bombing in Damascus in less than a week — underscored how fragile the security environment in Syria’s capital remains, even as the country attempts to attract foreign investment and diplomatic recognition for its new government.
What Happened in Damascus on Tuesday Morning
Explosions rocked Damascus on Tuesday as France’s president met with his Syrian counterpart in a landmark visit, wounding at least 18 people, Syria’s Interior Ministry said.
The Syrian Interior Ministry said that the blasts took place outside the security zone designated for the French president’s residence, and did not pose any direct threat to his lodging. The 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.
Reporting from Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Obaida Hitto said the two explosions occurred in a busy area in the city centre, near the Ministry of Tourism and the Four Seasons Hotel, where Macron had stayed the night before. AFP journalists heard at least one blast echo through Damascus before seeing a plume of smoke rising near the hotel. An AFP photographer near the tourism ministry, opposite the hotel, saw windows damaged by one of the explosions. Footage widely circulated on social media showed a van and a motorcycle on fire and blood stains on the street.
Macron’s office said the president, who was on his way to meet al-Sharaa, did not hear the blasts and the visit continued as normal. In a post on X shortly after the incident, Macron wrote: “Nothing can suppress the aspirations of the Syrian people to live in a fully sovereign, secure, pluralistic and united Syria.”
Why Macron Was in Damascus
Macron’s visit to Damascus was the first by a European head of state since longtime Syrian leader al-Assad was ousted in a blitz offensive in late 2024 that brought Ahmad al-Sharaa to power after nearly 14 years of civil war. Macron led calls for the lifting of Western sanctions on Syria last year, and was accompanied on this visit by business leaders including the CEOs of TotalEnergies and shipping group CMA CGM.
The Elysée said CMA CGM signed a partnership deal with Syria, including air cargo freight handling at Damascus International Airport, following on from an earlier May contract for the firm to operate two dry ports in the country. France and Syria also began a process to restore approximately $58 million in assets to Syria — resources confiscated from the late Rifaat al-Assad, Bashar’s uncle, by France following his sentencing for money laundering and misappropriation of Syrian public funds.
Macron said France was ready to help rebuild Syria’s economy and banking sector, and both countries agreed to appoint ambassadors — the first formal exchange of ambassadors between France and Syria in years. Syria’s new President al-Sharaa has said he envisions France as a “primary partner” for Damascus, with particular potential in transit, aviation and energy — particularly given the disruptions to Gulf shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Who Might Have Been Responsible
No group immediately claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s explosions. Analysts and security experts offered several possible perpetrators, none conclusively identified.
Ismat al-Absi, a security expert based in Damascus, told Al Jazeera: “We are not sure if the IEDs were targeting the French president’s convoy as he was heading to the People’s Palace to meet Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa. It is clear that the aim is to create unrest and send a negative message.”
Kamal Abdeo, professor and political researcher at the University of Idlib, said the attack appeared to have targeted Macron, with those responsible having planted improvised explosive devices overnight on roads his convoy would use.
Syria’s new government has struggled to maintain security in the capital since taking power. The country is home to multiple armed factions — remnants of the civil war, IS-affiliated cells, militia groups tied to Iran and Hezbollah, and criminal networks — whose interests are threatened by the normalisation of Syria’s international relationships and the influx of foreign investment that Macron’s visit represents. An attack on a visiting European head of state would serve as a signal that Syria remains unsafe for the kind of diplomatic and economic engagement al-Sharaa is seeking — a message that benefits anyone who wants to prevent Syria’s reintegration.
Damascus’s Deteriorating Security Environment
Tuesday’s attack was the second major bombing in Damascus in under a week. An explosive device was detonated in a cafe near the Palace of Justice in Damascus on July 2, killing at least ten people and wounding more than twenty. France’s government condemned that attack as a “terrorist act.”
Syria’s new rulers have wrestled with violence involving different groups in the country as they work to assert control, but the capital had largely been peaceful during the turbulent transition period — until recently. The pattern of bombings in central Damascus, targeting civilian areas and now coinciding with a major diplomatic visit, represents a deteriorating trend that will complicate al-Sharaa’s efforts to attract the foreign investment and reconstruction funding that Syria desperately needs. The conflict in Syria killed nearly half a million people and displaced millions. Syria’s infrastructure lies in ruins, and while nations and businesses have made large investment pledges, the country still needs hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild.
The Diplomatic Stakes
Al-Sharaa was expected to travel to the NATO summit in Ankara to meet with President Trump — a meeting that was still uncertain in the immediate aftermath of the Damascus bombings. The question of whether al-Sharaa’s trip would proceed as planned, and whether the security situation in Damascus would affect Western governments’ willingness to engage diplomatically and commercially with his government, was among the most immediately consequential diplomatic questions arising from Tuesday’s events.
Macron’s decision to continue his visit despite the bombings — and to meet al-Sharaa, sign commercial agreements and announce the exchange of ambassadors — was itself a statement: that France’s commitment to Syria’s reconstruction and reintegration is not conditional on perfect security, and that Tuesday’s attack would not achieve the destabilisation its planners intended.
