DAMASCUS — Explosions went off near the Damascus hotel where French President Emmanuel Macron was staying on Tuesday, according to a security source. Despite the blasts, the French presidential office known as the Elysee said Macron never heard them, and he went on to meet Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa shortly after.
A Reuters reporter on the ground heard the explosions and observed smoke rising in the area. Roads in the vicinity were closed off and additional security measures were put in place, the security source confirmed.
The Elysee added that the detonations were not audible from within the presidential motorcade, and a Reuters journalist traveling with the press contingent accompanying Macron neither heard the blasts nor witnessed any disruption during the French president’s morning schedule.
Syrian state television later confirmed that Macron and Sharaa held a meeting at the Syrian Presidential Palace.
The visit carries significant symbolic weight, as Macron is the first leader of a European Union nation to travel to Syria since rebels under Sharaa’s leadership drove Bashar al-Assad from power in 2024. The trip spotlights Syria’s shifting geopolitical landscape under Sharaa, a former al Qaeda commander who has since cultivated relationships with Western and Middle Eastern governments that had previously refused to engage with Assad, as he works to rebuild a nation devastated by 13 years of war.
During the long Syrian conflict, various extremist factions, including Islamic State, established a presence inside the country.
Sharaa, who belongs to Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority, has promised to construct a new, inclusive political order following the end of more than five decades of authoritarian rule by the Assad family. However, that commitment has faced serious tests, with outbreaks of violence between pro-government forces and members of religious and ethnic minority communities resulting in hundreds of deaths last year.
