DAMASCUS, July 7 : 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.
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."
French President Emmanuel Macron called for rule of law in Syria during his visit to Damascus on Tuesday, as the country transitions from the longtime rule of toppled president Bashar al-Assad.
"It is necessary that the dictatorship be succeeded by a genuine rule of law," Macron said in a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart in Damascus, adding that it "will allow the building of a new Syria and its prosperity".
�"REUTERS, AFP
