Bomb attack rocks Damascus during Macron visit

By Yamam Al Shaar, Kinda Makieh and Clotaire Achi

DAMASCUS, July 7 (Reuters) - ‌Two bombs exploded on Tuesday ​near a hotel ​in Damascus where French President Emmanuel Macron spent the night, wounding 18 people and overshadowing the first visit to Syria by a European Union head of state since Bashar al-Assad was toppled. Macron, whose motorcade left the hotel shortly before the blasts, pressed ahead with his visit, meeting President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the presidential palace. ‌His office said he had not heard the blasts. The attack underlined lingering security challenges facing Sharaa, a former al Qaeda commander who has ⁠built close ties with Western states as he has sought to stabilise and rebuild a country shattered by 13 years of civil war.

MACRON SAYS VISIT GOES ON

The explosions struck a busy area of Damascus between the Syrian Tourism ‌Ministry and the national museum across the street from ‌the Four Seasons hotel, where a source in Macron's delegation and Syrian security sources said he had spent the night and had met civil society groups on Tuesday morning.

In a post on X after the blasts, Macron said his visit continued.

"Nothing can undermine the desire of Syrians to live in a fully sovereign and secure Syria," he posted. "This morning I ​met Syria in all its diversity, and I saw dignity, courage and determination."

Macron, who led calls for the lifting of Western sanctions on Syria last year, was accompanied by business leaders, including the CEOs of TotalEnergies and shipping group CMA CGM.

The Elysee said CMA CGM signed a partnership deal with Syria, including air cargo freight handling, at Damascus airport, and that ⁠France and Syria would start a process to restore €51 million ($58.3 million) of assets to Syria that were confiscated from the late Rifaat al-Assad, Bashar's uncle.

Macron said France was ready to help rebuild Syria's economy and banking sector.

FLAMES AND BILLOWING SMOKE

There was no ​immediate claim of responsibility for the bomb attacks.

The first blast hit soon after Macron's motorcade left for the presidential palace. Reuters footage showed flames and smoke billowing from the site, when a second explosion was caught on camera a few metres (yards) away.

The second blast went off next ​to an ambulance parked at the scene, where some two dozen people had gathered. Emergency personnel worked ‌to extinguish the blaze, with smoke and flames close to the shops behind.

Reuters video showed Macron's motorcade heading along a highway towards the presidential palace before the blasts. A video published by Syrian state media then showed him standing alongside Sharaa and meeting other Syrian officials and military officers.

Aron ⁠Lund of the Century International think-tank said such attacks could dent confidence in Syria's recovery, but they posed no threat to government control over the country.

"It's a worrying phenomenon, but I don't think we should overstate it. It's been 1-1/2 years and Islamic State hasn't re-emerged in the way many feared," he said.

Islamic State, an adversary of Sharaa during the civil war, has claimed a series of attacks on government forces in Syria ⁠since February, when the jihadist group announced what it described as a new phase of operations against his government.

DAMASCUS CAFE BOMBED LAST WEEK

The Syrian Interior Ministry said security forces had identified two bombs planted near ​the Tourism Ministry and had been preparing to defuse them when they went off, describing the devices as crudely made.

The bombs — one of them placed in a car parked on the roadside and the other in a trash can — were planted outside a security cordon around Macron's place of residence, and posed no threat to his visit, the ministry said.

Internal security forces have launched search operations to identify those responsible, it said.

The ‌French Presidency said the blasts were not audible from the presidential motorcade and a Reuters journalist with the press group accompanying Macron did not hear the blast or see any commotion during the French president's morning events.

Last week, a bomb at a Damascus cafe killed nine people ‌and wounded 20 others. There was no claim of responsibility.

Sharaa, a member of Syria's Sunni Muslim majority, has pledged to build an inclusive new order in Syria since ending more than five decades of iron-fisted rule ⁠by the Assad family. But his promise has been tested by bouts ‌of violence pitting pro-government forces against members of religious and ​ethnic minority groups, with many hundreds killed last year.

(Reporting by Kinda Makieh, Clotaire Achi, Inti Landauro and John Irish; Tala Ramadan, Ahmed Elimam and Nayera Abdallah and Feras Dalatey in Dubai; Sudip Kar-Gupta, Tom Perry in Beirut; in Paris Writing by Angus McDowall and Tom Perry; Editing by Michael Georgy, Andrew ‌Heavens and Sharon Singleton)

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