Two improvised explosive devices detonated near the Four Seasons hotel in downtown Damascus on Tuesday, where French President Emmanuel Macron was staying during a state visit to Syria, according to Syrian state media. Macron was unharmed — a spokesman for the Élysée Palace said he was not in the hotel at the time and did not even hear the blasts — and he continued his programme of meetings with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa. The visit is significant as the first state visit by a Western leader since al-Sharaa took over from the deposed Bashar al-Assad in 2025.

Syria's interior ministry, reporting through the state outlet SANA, said 18 people were injured, including four police officers, and that both bombs — placed inside a car and a rubbish bin — went off after security forces had discovered them and were preparing to dispose of them. The ministry stressed that the blast site lay outside the security perimeter designated for the French president and posed no direct threat to his residence or the official programme. Macron did not comment directly on the explosions but posted on X that "nothing can smother the aspiration of Syrian women and men to live in a fully sovereign, safe, pluralistic, and united Syria," adding that his visit was continuing.