DAMASCUS, Syria – Two coordinated explosive device attacks shook central Damascus on Tuesday, as French President Emmanuel Macron held a landmark meeting with Syria’s new President Ahmad al-Sharaa, leaving at least 18 people injured, Syria’s Interior Ministry confirmed. The incident marks the second major deadly explosion in the capital in less than a week, throwing a shadow over efforts to stabilize the war-battered nation and rebuild its economy following 14 years of conflict.
According to Syrian Interior Ministry statements carried by state media, the two blasts detonated in a busy central district of Damascus, just a short distance from the Four Seasons Hotel where Macron was confirmed to be staying, and close to the presidential palace where the meeting between the two leaders was taking place. One explosive device was hidden inside a public garbage bin, while the second was placed in a parked car. Four of the 18 injured people are active-duty police officers, and official sources confirmed no fatalities had been reported as of Tuesday afternoon. Local security forces have cordoned off the blast site to launch a full investigation into the attack, and no group has yet claimed responsibility for the assault.
Footage of the incident widely shared across social media platforms captured a large plume of black smoke rising from the attack zone, which sits steps from the Syrian Tourism Ministry headquarters and the Damascus National Museum. The footage also shows a van and a motorcycle engulfed in flames, with visible blood stains on the pavement of the busy commercial street. Immediately following the blasts, the Élysée Palace issued a statement confirming that Macron was unharmed and that his scheduled meeting with al-Sharaa was proceeding as planned.
Macron’s visit to Syria is unprecedented in modern Syrian-Western relations: he is the first leader of a major Western power to travel to Damascus since al-Sharaa took power in 2024, after leading an insurgency that ousted long-time authoritarian ruler Bashar Assad. Macron arrived in the country on Monday night accompanied by a large delegation of French business and economic leaders, with plans to sign a series of bilateral memorandums of understanding aimed at opening the door for foreign investment to support Syria’s reconstruction.
The French president has been a leading voice among Western leaders pushing for the European Union and United States to lift the majority of economic sanctions imposed on Syria over decades of conflict and authoritarian rule. Al-Sharaa’s new administration has made attracting foreign reconstruction investment a top priority, after 14 years of war left the country’s infrastructure in ruins, displaced millions of people, killed nearly half a million, and left millions more trapped in poverty. Independent analysts estimate Syria will require hundreds of billions of dollars in total investment to fully rebuild.
The attack comes just days after a separate explosive device detonated at a cafe near the Damascus Justice Palace, which killed at least 10 people and wounded more than 20. For al-Sharaa, the repeated blasts in the capital represent a major setback to his efforts to consolidate full control over Syrian territory, restore nationwide stability, and build trust with Western governments and domestic minority groups skeptical of his background as the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group once linked to al-Qaeda. Al-Sharaa’s government has committed to sweeping political and economic reforms after decades of autocratic rule, and until this recent string of attacks, the capital had remained largely peaceful through the post-Assad transition period, even as the new administration faced scattered clashes with armed factions in outlying regions.
Before heading to his meeting at the presidential palace on Tuesday, Macron held a closed-door session with members of Syrian civil society. The Élysée Palace has not released details on the participants or content of that meeting. Macron is scheduled to depart Damascus this week to travel to Ankara, Turkey, to attend the upcoming NATO summit.