Two IEDs explode in Damascus, Syria, during French president's visit

Two improvised explosive devices exploded on ​Tuesday 7 July near a hotel in the Syrian capital city of Damascus where the French president Emmanuel Macron spent the night on a visit to the country. The explosions reportedly injured 18 people but caused no fatalities.

Reuters reports that president Macron's motorcade had left his hotel shortly before blasts and was not nearby at the time of the incident. His office said he did not hear the blasts and his meeting with the Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa continued.

The explosions struck a ​busy area of Damascus between the Syrian Ministry of Tourism and the national museum, opposite the Four Seasons hotel, where it is understood president Macron had spent the night and met civil society groups on Tuesday morning. The second blast went off next to an ambulance parked at the scene, where some two dozen people had gathered.

"We are not naive about the risks, but they are being managed," Macron said later in a news conference with Sharaa. "Certain groups" sought to prevent "Syria's full ​and complete reintegration into the international community", he added.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack and Syrian president Sharaa said investigations were ongoing.