Twin bombings outside the Four Seasons hotel in Damascus cast a pall over the state visit of French President Emmanuel Macron and wounded at least 18 people, including four security personnel, according to Syrian state media.
Reportedly one of the bombs was placed in a parked car and the other in a garbage can near the hotel. Macron himself wasn’t present at the attack, as he and his entourage had left for his meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa shortly before they went off.
Syria’s Interior Ministry suggests it detected both bombs before they went off, and were in the process of cordoning off the area and preparing to try to defuse them when they exploded. They described both bombs as “improvised.”
A cordoned-off area and debris in the aftermath of explosions near a hotel where French President Emmanuel Macron was meant to be staying, in Damascus, Syria, July 7, 2026. REUTERS/Yamam Al Shaar
The timing of the explosions, coinciding with a high-profile state visit, seems intended to show that Syria remains vulnerable to security threats, even some 18 months after Sharaa and his militant group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, seized power.
It is the second substantial bombing in Damascus in less than a week, as last Thursday a bombing in a cafe near the city’s main court building killed at least 9 people and wounded 20 others. It is unclear if that bombing and these are in any way related.
What is noteworthy, however, is that none of the bombings has seen a formal claim of responsibility by any faction. That’s unusual, as normally high-profile bombings in major cities like Damascus would be done by some faction looking to establish itself as a significant threat.
Multiple Arab nations in the region were quick to issue statements condemning today’s bombing and expressing support for stability in Syria. Macron similarly expressed support for the Syrian people after the incident, saying “nothing can smother the aspiration of Syrian women and men to live in a fully sovereign, safe, pluralistic, and united Syria.”
