Bombs explode near Damascus hotel housing Macron on Syria visit

Explosions rocked Damascus near the hotel where French president, Emmanuel Macron, was staying on Tuesday, wounding at least 18 people, Syrian authorities said.Macron was in the presidential palace for a meeting with the Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, when two improvised explosive devices detonated near the Four Seasons hotel where Macron was reported to be staying.The Four Seasons hosts UN staff and foreign diplomats and is one of the most well-guarded facilities in the Syrian capital.The explosions did not interrupt Macron’s visit, Syrian state media said, publishing pictures of the French and Syrian presidents embracing in the presidential palace.But the explosions were a setback for Syria’s new rulers, who have sought to project an image of stability and have sought to attract foreign investors since the toppling of the former president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.Emmanuel Macron and Ahmed al-Sharaa shake hands at the presidential palace in Damascus on Tuesday. Photograph: Marin Ludovic/Abaca/ShutterstockMacron is the first major western leader to visit Syria since Assad was forced out, and his meeting with Sharaa in Damascus was viewed as a major recognition of Sharaa. Sharaa and his ministers have worked hard to distance themselves from their pasts as Islamist fighters in Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which grew out of al-Qaida.France has been one of the most supportive western governments of Sharaa’s rule, pushing the US to drop sanctions on Syria and playing a key role in mediating between Syria and Israel.Macron has been accompanied by an economic delegation, including Jacques Saadé, the head of the shipping conglomerate CMA CGM, who has Syrian origins. The French president is expected to sign memorandums of understandings with Syria in an attempt to boost investor confidence in the war-battered country, which is struggling to lift itself out of economic malaise.A video of one of the explosions on Tuesday showed Syrian police officers standing around what appeared to be a bin before the bin suddenly exploded, wounding four officers.The Syrian interior ministry said another IED was placed in a parked car and that 18 people were wounded in total. The interior ministry said an investigation was under way to determine who was responsible for the attack.Last Thursday an IED placed in a busy cafe near the Justice Palace in Damascus killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 20. No group has claimed responsibility for that attack.Syria has recently struggled with attacks from various armed groups, including Islamic State and groups linked to the former Assad regime. Damascus had been largely spared from violence until last week, even as other areas of the country saw kidnappings and assassinations as the new government tried to assert itself.Besides security, the economic malaise created by 14 years of war and crushing sanctions is the main challenge facing postwar Syria. About 90% of people in Syria live in poverty and the country’s infrastructure is in desperate needs of repairs as a result of the war. Basic services such as electricity are inconsistent in parts of the country, including Damascus.