Two explosions rang out in Damascus, near the hotel where French President Emmanuel Macron was staying during his visit to Syria. The first reports immediately raised a question few dared to voice out loud: an assassination attempt? For now there is no official confirmation of that version - but there is confirmation that the bombs went off right in the French president's zone.

According to a regional outlet, at least 18 people were injured, among them four police officers. A Syrian television channel reported these were improvised explosive devices - one placed in a garbage container next to the hotel, the other in a car nearby. Security services found the explosives before detonation, but the bomb-disposal experts didn't manage to defuse them in time.

Despite the explosions and the initial panic, Macron was unharmed. The Élysée announced that the president did not interrupt the political part of the visit at all and continued talks with transitional-period leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. A message of strength - or a message that something has to be proven?

The incident happened at a particularly sensitive moment. Macron was in Damascus as part of a delicate visit to a country ravaged by years of war, internal clashes, and the activity of various armed groups. When a Western leader goes into a context like this, security is everything - and the fact that the explosives got so close to his hotel shows just how thin the line is between diplomatic victory and catastrophe. The Balkans know that line well; we lived it.