DAMASCUS, Syria: Syrian authorities on Friday said they uncovered an explosives cache after having captured an IS-linked cell responsible for two bomb blasts during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Damascus earlier this week.
The attacks, which occurred near the hotel where Macron spent the night, cast a shadow over the first trip by a European Union head of state since Bashar al-Assad was toppled in late 2024.
Syria’s Interior Minister Anas Khattab said that “the cell responsible for the terrorist bombings that targeted Damascus two days ago is now in our custody”.
Ahmad Dalati, head of interior security for the Damascus region, said on Syrian state television that preliminary investigations indicated “the cell was affiliated with the IS (Islamic State) group”.
On Friday, the interior ministry said that “intensive investigations with members of the terrorist cell” allowed authorities to find “a secret cache the cell had designated for storing explosives in preparation for a series of terrorist attacks”.
The ministry had said that the cell had been captured following a series of raids “carried out at the same time against the suspects’ different locations across Damascus and its countryside”.
The statement said the raids occurred in four neighbourhoods, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor saying dozens were arrested in the working-class Ish al-Warwar suburb.
Two blasts hit central Damascus on Tuesday, killing one person and wounding dozens during the French president’s first visit to Syria.
The explosives had been planted near the Four Seasons Hotel, with Syria’s interior ministry saying one was placed in a rubbish container and the other in a vehicle near the hotel in the heart of the capital.
Courage
The blasts came after Macron’s departure from the building, and moments before Syrian state media announced his arrival at the presidential palace to meet his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa.
In a joint news conference after the blast, Macron said we must “not let ourselves be destabilised” by such attacks, and reiterated Paris’s support for the country.
Sharaa praised Macron’s “courage” for pressing ahead with his visit despite the bombings.
The explosions were the second in the Syrian capital this month, following a bombing in a Damascus cafe on July 2 that killed 10 people.
The French president had postponed announcing the date of his visit until his plane landed on Monday for security reasons.
