The Ministry of Interior announced that 18 people, including 4 of its members, were injured as a result of two explosions that occurred on the morning of Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in the Victoria area in the center of Damascus.

The correspondent of Al-Surya News said that the two explosions took place at about 10:15 local time sequentially and with a time difference of about 5 minutes between the two explosions, where an explosive device exploded near the Samir Amis Hotel before a second bomb exploded near the Ministry of Tourism on the street opposite the "Faussion" Hotel, the residence of French President Emmanuel Macron, who arrived in Damascus yesterday evening.

The Ministry of Interior said that during their field operations, the Internal Security Forces detected two explosive devices and the specialized units began to take the necessary measures to dismantle them, but they exploded during the preparation for the dismantling operation.

The ministry added that it immediately took its precautions by imposing a security cordon in the vicinity of the site to preserve the safety of citizens, while the specialized units began surveying and securing operations in the area.

The ministry said that the initial inspection showed that "the two bombs were made in a primitive way, the first was placed inside a car parked on the side of the road, while the second was placed in a garbage container, stressing that it has started investigations to uncover the circumstances of the attack and identify those involved.

The ministry stressed that the site of the explosion is located outside the security zone allocated to the French president's residence, and did not pose any direct threat to the residence or to the official visit program, which is continuing according to the planned plan.

Elysium comments on the two bombings

The Elysee Palace said that President Macron did not hear the explosions that took place in the Syrian capital Damascus, and the visit is continuing.

For its part, AFP said that the two explosions were followed by smoke rising from a place near an upscale hotel where French President Emmanuel Macron spent the night, while Reuters quoted a Syrian security source confirming the explosion of explosive devices near the French president's residence.

Previous explosion in Damascus

Today's explosion comes days after a deadly bombing hit the center of Damascus, where an explosion caused by an explosive device occurred at the "Al-Mushiriya" café on Al-Nasr Street, near the Justice Palace, on Thursday, July 2, killing 6 people and injuring 22 other café-goers , most of whom were lawyers.

The Syrian Ministry of Interior announced at the time that its units began their field procedures immediately after an explosion caused by an explosive device.

This came after initial information circulated on social media and local media that the explosion was likely caused by the explosion of a lithium battery or a gas cylinder inside the café.

No party has claimed responsibility for the past incident as of the time of writing.

Armed attack on security checkpoint south of Damascus

On July 3, three members of the security forces were wounded in an attack on a security checkpoint at the entrance to the city of Jaramana in the Damascus countryside, before the attacker was killed by the explosion of a grenade he was trying to throw.

The Syrian state news agency SANA quoted a security source at the time as saying that the checkpoint agents stopped two people who were riding a motorcycle to verify their identities, before one of them took the initiative to pull out a gun and shoot, then threw two hand grenades towards the checkpoint, which resulted in the injury of three officers.

The source added that the attacker tried to throw a third grenade, but it exploded with him, killing him instantly, and later state media circulated that the perpetrator of the attack was named Daniel Riad Daoud, who is wanted in cases of murder and drug trafficking.