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Explosions rocked Syria's capital Damascus on Tuesday, killing one person and wounding at least 36 others, as French President Emmanuel Macron visited the city. The blasts struck central Damascus near the Ministry of Tourism and the Four Seasons Hotel, a day after Macron had stayed the night there, reported Al Jazeera's Obaida Hitto from the Syrian capital.

Macron, the first European Union head of state to visit Syria since the 2024 ouster of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, had already left the hotel for Syria's presidential palace and did not hear the explosions, according to his office. He pledged to continue his visit, saying in a news conference alongside Syria's President Ahmed el-Sharaaa that they must "not let ourselves be destabilised."

Coverage Comparison

Al Jazeera reported the incident in two separate dispatches. The first focused on the diplomatic implications of the bombings for Macron's visit and Syria's image, while the second examined the security response and the broader challenges facing the transitional government. Both reports drew on official statements from Syria's state news agency, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Interior, and the Interior Ministry spokesperson.

Key Claims

  • Syria's state news agency, citing the Ministry of Health, reported the updated toll on Wednesday: one person died and at least 36 were wounded. The ministry said 31 of those wounded had "minor injuries," while five others were hospitalised in "stable condition."
  • Syria's Ministry of Interior said one bomb had been placed inside a car parked on the side of a road, while a second device was planted in a rubbish container. It said they exploded "while preparations were under way" to dismantle them. In the latest attack, two improvised explosive devices detonated at approximately 10:15am (07:15 GMT) while bomb disposal teams were preparing to defuse them, according to a separate Al Jazeera report.
  • Macron, who continued his visit after the blasts, said Syria must not be "destabilised" by the attacks. Al-Sharaa saluted Macron's "courage" for carrying on with his visit despite the bombings.
  • The attacks cast a shadow over the landmark visit as al-Sharaa tries to rebuild the country's image after more than a decade of conflict. Five days earlier, a separate attack in Damascus killed 10 people in a cafe.
  • Authorities have tightened security across Damascus following the bombings. The Ministry of Interior implemented a series of precautionary protective measures, including heavily armed patrols and checkpoints at critical intersections. Key government buildings, judicial institutions and foreign diplomatic sites have been granted extended exclusion zones, reinforced by concrete blast walls and mandatory vehicle searches.
  • Officials have noted similarities with last week's explosion at a busy central cafe. Security units have since launched sweeping field operations, using localised surveillance footage to track the ownership of the vehicle used in the bombing and scanning urban infrastructure for potential secondary devices.
  • Syria's General Intelligence forces have been seizing large amounts of explosive materials and explosive drones belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Speaking at the scene of the attack, Interior Ministry spokesperson Nureddin al-Baba said the explosions posed "no direct threat" to the president, according to authorities, as they occurred outside the security perimeter designated for the French delegation.

"Checkpoints and patrols may help people feel safer, but preventing this type of attack requires intelligence work, mapping networks, monitoring explosive materials, improving information sharing and building cooperation with local communities," said Navvar Saban, a researcher in security and military affairs at the Arab Center for Contemporary Studies in Syria.

The bombings have tested the limits of Syria's transitional government, which is seeking to project stability as it rebuilds the country's image. Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said Macron's visit, which continued despite the attacks, underscored international engagement with the new administration.