Two bomb explosions were heard on Tuesday morning outside the Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus, Syria, where France's president Emmanuel Macron spent the night.
Witnesses saw smoke rising from an area near the hotel. Macron had left in the morning for talks at the presidential palace to meet Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The explosions struck a busy area between the Syrian tourism ministry and the national museum, a Syrian security source told AFP.
About 18 people were injured in the explosions, including four police officers, the Syrian interior ministry said.
The ministry said that it recorded “8 injured, including four police officers" following two explosions caused by "two homemade bombs, the first placed inside a car parked on the side of the road, and the second in a garbage bin. "
The first blast occurred right after Macron’s motorcade left the hotel.
Footage from the area showed flames coming from a trash can when the second explosion was caught just a few meters away.
The second blast went off next to a parked ambulance at the scene where two dozen people were gathered.
Macron's motorcade was seen heading towards the presidential palace before the blast.
A search operation to identify those responsible has been launched.
The French presidency said that they did not hear the blasts from the motorcade.
They said that the president intended to stick to his planned schedule for the day.
Macron is the first head of state of a major European country to visit since rebels led by Sharaa toppled Bashar al-Assad in 2024.
On Thursday, 10 people were killed in a bomb attack on a cafe in central Damascus.
On Monday, Macron had dinner with the Syrian president in the centre of Damascus before going to the the Umayyad Mosque in the heart of the city.
