On the second day of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Damascus, Tuesday (July 7, 2026), at least 18 people were wounded in two explosions near a hotel where Macron was staying. 

Security forces closed down a road, and ambulances moved towards the scene in Damascus following at least one explosion that was heard by AFP journalists before they witnessed smoke rising above a building in the vicinity of the Four Seasons Hotel. 

One of the bombs was encased in a dumpster, the other in a vehicle near the Four Seasons Hotel, said a Syrian security source to AFP. 

Four police officers were injured, along with 18 others, in the blasts, Syrian state media reported.

The French President was already outside the hotel, en route to the presidential palace, where an AFP team was waiting to greet him for a meeting with his Syrian counterpart, Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The AFP photographer, who was near the tourism ministry opposite the hotel, spotted damage to windows by one of the explosions in the midst of a tightly guarded area.

Hamam Hammoud, 37, who works at a money exchange company, told AFP that he witnessed three traffic police officers being injured on the ground, before the area was evacuated and the road leading to it was closed.

Macron at the palace

The explosions were shortly before Syrian state television reported Mr Macron’s arrival at the palace.

The French President, the first Western European leader to visit Syria since the end of the rule of longtime President Bashar al-Assad in 2024, would proceed with his visit, France’s Elysee Palace said.

Mr Macron has held meetings with civil society representatives as well as met with Mr Sharaa for talks on the post-war reconstruction and to reaffirm his demand for “unity” and “plurality”.

The explosions are the second since Thursday (July 2, 2026), when 10 people were killed in a bombing in a Damascus cafe.

The French President had postponed announcing the date of his visit to Damascus until his plane landed on Monday (July 6, 2026), for security reasons.

Following the meeting with Mr Sharaa, Mr Macron was to participate in the “economic forum focused on Syria’s reconstruction and strategic corridors”.

This will be with several economic partners, such as the head of maritime transport giant CMA CGM, Rodolphe Saade and TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne.

The previous visit of a French president was by Nicolas Sarkozy in 2009, but in 2011, Syria’s Assad regime ruthlessly suppressed pro-democracy demonstrations that led to over half a million deaths and the country’s infrastructure and industry were ruined.

Mr. Macron welcomed Mr Sharaa for his first-ever official visit to a European country in May 2025, ahead of the Syrian leader’s visit to Washington last year to meet U.S. President Donald Trump.