DAMASCUS (Dispatches) -- A series of explosions rocked central Damascus on Tuesday, injuring at least 18 people, including four police officers. 
The blasts occurred near the Four Seasons hotel, approximately 125 meters from where French President Emmanuel Macron was meeting with civil society groups. 
Both devices detonated while security forces attempted to defuse them. Macron, en route to meet Syria’s interim president, was unharmed.
The visit marked Macron as the first EU leader to officially engage Syria’s new de facto leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. This signals a significant shift in Western policy, as Jolani’s takfiri history is well-documented. 
He served as a deputy to Al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq and was later dispatched by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to establish Daesh’s Syrian branch, Jabhat al-Nusra. In 2016, he rebranded his group as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which remains widely designated as a terrorist organization.
While the West frames this engagement as a pragmatic step toward stability, the reality under Jolani’s rule paints a different picture. Reports indicate widespread violence and sectarian atrocities. 
His forces have been accused of brutal revenge attacks, particularly targeting the Alawite community—where over 830 were massacred in a single weekend—as well as ethnic cleansing campaigns against Kurds, Christians, and Druze. These actions contradict stated Western goals of pluralism and security.
The shift is also seen as a strategic realignment. For decades, the West’s stated objective in Syria was to fight terrorism. However, the embrace of a former Al-Qaeda and Daesh figure exposes the West’s long-term objective to dismantle the region’s “resistance axis” and topple Bashar al-Assad—the key obstacle to Israeli regional dominance. 
The rapid U.S. removal of Jolani’s $10 million bounty and subsequent diplomatic recognition suggest his past is now irrelevant, as he is needed to secure U.S. and Israeli strategic aims.
Macron’s visit also revives memories of France’s colonial past. Following World War I, France assumed a League of Nations Mandate over Syria in 1920, ruling until 1946. French authorities deliberately fragmented Syria into confessional states, institutionalizing sectarianism that persists today. 
In May 1945, French forces bombarded Damascus, killing hundreds of civilians. For many Syrians, Macron’s presence evokes this painful legacy—a reminder that France’s engagement with Syria has seldom been free of imperial overtones. The visit represents not just a diplomatic realignment, but a reopening of historical wounds.