Shafaqna Pakistan: Two bombs exploded near a hotel in Damascus where French President Emmanuel Macron was holding meetings on Tuesday, Syrian state media reported.
However, the French presidency said Macron was unaware of the blasts at the time and proceeded with his meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa shortly afterwards.
The explosions highlighted the ongoing security challenges facing Syria, where Macron became the first leader of a major European Union country to visit since the rebel alliance led by Sharaa overthrew Bashar al-Assad in 2024.
The blasts occurred in a busy area between the Syrian Ministry of Tourism and the National Museum, opposite the Four Seasons Hotel, where Macron had been meeting representatives of civil society.
According to Syria’s state news agency, at least 18 people, including four police officers, were injured in the explosions.
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 (yards) 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 showed Macron’s motorcade heading along a highway towards the presidential palace before the blasts. Photographs then showed him standing alongside Sharaa and meeting other Syrian officials and military officers.
Internal security forces have launched search operations to identify those responsible, Syria’s state-run Al-Ekhbariya TV cited a security source as saying. Roads were sealed off and security measures were implemented after the blasts, a security source told Reuters.
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.
The presidency said he intended to stick to his planned schedule for the day.
SYRIAN POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION
Macron’s visit was intended to highlight Syria’s political transformation under Sharaa, who has established close ties with Western and Middle Eastern powers that shunned Assad, as he seeks to rebuild a country shattered by 13 years of war.
During the Syrian conflict, a range of militant groups including Islamic State gained a foothold in the country.
Last week, a bomb at a Damascus cafe killed nine people and wounded 20 others. There was no claim of responsibility.
Islamic State 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 Sharaa’s government.
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 last year.
Source: Dunya News
