Blasts rock Damascus during Macron visit

By Yamam Al Shaar, Kinda Makieh and ‌Clotaire Achi

DAMASCUS, July 7 (Reuters) - ​Two bombs ​exploded near the hotel in Damascus where Emmanuel Macron held meetings on Tuesday, Syrian state media said, but the French president's office said he did not hear the explosions and he met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa soon ‌afterwards.

The blasts underscore the major security challenges in Syria, where Macron is the first head of ⁠state of a major European Union country to visit since rebels led by Sharaa toppled Bashar al-Assad in 2024.

The explosions struck a busy area between ‌the Syrian tourism ministry and the national ‌museum across the street from the Four Seasons, where Macron was meeting civil society groups.

Syria's state news agency reported that 18 people were injured in the explosions, including four police officers.

The first blast hit soon after Macron's motorcade left for ​the presidential palace. Reuters footage showed flames and smoke billowing from a trash can 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.

Flames and thick black smoke were seen billowing from close to the shops behind, as emergency personnel worked to put out the blaze.

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

Internal security forces have ​launched search operations to identify those responsible, Syria's state-run Al-Ekhbariya TV cited ‌a security source as saying. Roads were sealed off and security measures were implemented after the blasts, a security source told Reuters.

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.

The presidency said he intended to stick to his planned schedule for the day.

SYRIAN POLITICAL TRANSFORMATION

Macron's visit was intended to highlight Syria's ⁠political transformation under Sharaa, who has established close ties with Western and Middle Eastern powers that shunned Assad, as he seeks to rebuild a ​country shattered by 13 years of war.

During the Syrian conflict, a range of militant groups including Islamic State gained a foothold in the country.

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

Islamic State 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 Sharaa's government.

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; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Michael Georgy, Andrew Heavens ‌and Sharon Singleton)

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