Explosions rocked Damascus near the hotel where French president Emmanuel Macron was staying on Tuesday, wounding at least 18 people, Syrian authorities said.Macron was in the presidential palace for a meeting with Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa when two Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) detonated near the Four Seasons Hotel, where Macron was reported to be staying. The Four Seasons hosts UN staff and foreign diplomats and is one of the most well-guarded facilities in the Syrian capital.The explosions did not interrupt Macron’s visit, Syrian state media said, publishing pictures of the French and Syrian presidents embracing in the presidential palace.But the explosions were a setback for Syria’s new rulers, who have sought to project an image of stability and have sought to attract foreign investors since the toppling of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.Macron is the first major western leader to visit Syria since Assad was forced out, and his meeting with Sharaa in Damascus was viewed as a major recognition of Sharaa. Sharaa and his ministers have worked hard to distance themselves from their pasts as Islamist fighters in Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which grew out of al-Qaida.France has been one of the most supportive western governments of Sharaa’s rule, pushing the US to drop sanctions on Syria and playing a key role in mediating between Syria and Israel.Macron is accompanied with an economic delegation, including Jacques Saadé, the head of shipping conglomerate CMA CGM who has Syrian origins. The French president is expected to sign memorandums of understandings with Syria in an aim to boost investor confidence in the war-battered country which is struggling to lift itself out of economic malaise.A video of one of the explosions on Tuesday showed Syrian police officers standing around what appeared to be a trash bin before the bin suddenly exploded – wounding four officers.The Syrian interior ministry said that another IED was placed in a parked car, and that 18 people were wounded in total, with no deaths currently recorded. The interior ministry said an investigation was taking place to determine who was responsible for the attack.The explosions came just days after an IED was placed in a busy cafe near the Justice Palace in Damascus, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 20. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.