{"id":195445,"date":"2026-07-08T04:13:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T04:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/195445\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T04:13:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T04:13:05","slug":"explosions-rock-damascus-wounding-18-as-frances-macron-visits-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/195445\/","title":{"rendered":"Explosions rock Damascus, wounding 18, as France\u2019s Macron visits Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Explosions rocked Damascus on Tuesday as France\u2019s president met with his Syrian counterpart in a landmark visit, wounding at least 18 people, Syria\u2019s Interior Ministry said.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">It was the second blast to rock the capital in a few days, and a setback for the country\u2019s new president as he welcomed his first visit from a western leader since ousting long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad. Syria\u2019s new rulers have wrestled with outbreaks of violence as they work to assert control, but the capital has been largely peaceful.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/emmanuel-macron?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Emmanuel Macron<\/a> was inside the presidential palace when the explosions happened. An official from the Elysee Palace said he was safe and that the meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa continued, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss Macron\u2019s whereabouts and security.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cNothing can smother the aspiration of Syrian women and men to live in a fully sovereign, safe, pluralistic, and united Syria,\u201d Macron said in a post on X hours after the deadly explosions. \u201cThis morning I met Syria in all its diversity. I saw dignity, courage and determination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A large plume of smoke could be seen from the site of the explosion near the Four Seasons Hotel, where Syrian media reported Macron was staying. Footage widely circulated on <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/social-media?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">social media<\/a> showed a van and a motorcycle on fire and blood stains on the street in the area on a busy street near the headquarters of the Tourism Ministry and the Damascus National Museum.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The explosions represent a challenge to al-Sharaa, who came to power after leading an insurgency that ousted Bashar al-Assad in 2024 and ending the country\u2019s 14-year uprising turned civil war. Assad\u2019s dynasty ruled Syria with an iron fist for half a century.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Al-Sharaa has since pushed to assert full control over and bring stability to war-torn Syria, appeal to minorities sceptical of his Islamist-led rule, and win the support of Western governments who were concerned about his past leadership of the formerly al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group. His government has promised political and economic reform after decades of autocratic rule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Explosions rocked Damascus on Tuesday as France\u2019s president met with his Syrian counterpart in a landmark visit, wounding&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[30],"tags":[1828,57990,670,1143,85,57989,382,56725,95,55930,10741,1518],"class_list":["post-195445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-syria","tag-ahmad-al-sharaa","tag-al-watan","tag-damascus","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-explosions","tag-four-seasons-hotel","tag-france","tag-justice-palace","tag-syria","tag-syria-tv","tag-syrian","tag-tuesday"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116882414822448161","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}