Syria: the French President continues his visit to Damascus after two explosions

Kinshasa, July 7^th,2026 (CPA).- The French President has confirmed on Tuesday that he would continue his visit to Syria following two bomb explosions near the hotel where he had spent the night in Damascus, THE international media have informed. “This morning I have encountered Syria in all its diversity. I have seen dignity, courage and determination. My visit continues,” has declared Emmanuel Macron, the French President. “Nothing will be able to stifle the aspirations of the Syrian people to live in a fully sovereign, secure, pluralist and united Syria,” he has added. Two bombs have exploded this morning in the immediate vicinity of the Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus, where Emmanuel Macron was sleeping. Eighteen people have been injured. The President of the Republic had left the place a few minutes earlier to travel to the presidential palace outside the city.  “We are reliable, consistent and predictable partners,” has specified Emmanuel Macron. This is the first visit by a Western head of State since the fall of Bashar al-Assad on December 8^th, 2024. Nicolas Sarkozy was the last French president to visit the country, in 2008. For his part, the Syrian President Ahmed al-Charaa has expressed his hope that France would become his country’s “leading partner”, at a time when Syria is regaining its role as a “crossroads” for worldwide trade routes following the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Opening an economic forum at the presidential palace in Damascus, alongside his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, Ahmed al-Charaa has estimated that this crisis had highlighted “the importance of Syria’s geography, which plays a vital role as an indispensable crossroads for worldwide trade routes”. “And we want France to be our leading partner on this journey,” he has maintained.