Damascus Bombs Rock Macron’s Landmark Syria Visit
Two explosive devices detonated near the Damascus hotel where President Macron had spent the night, wounding at least 18 people, as the French president held talks with Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa — the first visit by a major Western leader since the fall of the Assad regime. The Élysée said Macron was inside the presidential palace at the time, is safe, and is continuing his programme. No group has claimed the blasts.
The attack answers the question Macron’s visit was designed to settle — whether the new Syria is stable enough for Western re-engagement — in the most public way possible: explosions within earshot of a visiting head of state’s hotel, days after a cafe bombing beside the courts trying Assad-era officials. The visit continuing is itself the message both presidents need to send, with French investors in the delegation and Sharaa due to meet President Trump at the NATO summit tomorrow. Whoever planted the devices was targeting the normalisation process itself. Watch for a claim of responsibility, and whether the Trump-Sharaa meeting survives the optics.