Two improvised explosive devices detonated near the Damascus hotel housing French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, wounding at least 18 people — a blunt reminder that Western leaders who insert themselves into foreign conflicts bring blood, not stability, home with them.
Macron was inside the presidential palace meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa when the blasts hit near the Four Seasons hotel, one of the most guarded sites in the capital. The French president's office confirmed he was safe and that the meeting continued. Syrian state media published images of the two leaders embracing. The optics were the whole point: Macron is the first major Western leader to visit Syria since al-Sharaa — a former Islamist fighter whose group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, grew out of al-Qaeda — ousted Bashar Assad in December 2024.
Both the Guardian and AP framed the bombings as a
