The new “terrifying” development in the Damascus bombing

Why did they coincide with the French president’s visit? Here’s a new, unique perspective on the current map of Syria.

Ten days ago, exactly two days before the first explosion near Damascus’ judicial palace, a Syrian acquaintance with whom I had lost communication since December 2024 (when the regime in Damascus changed) called me from a Western nation. He painted a shocking picture of Syria’s deteriorating living conditions and suffering, focusing in particular on the lack of security and widespread anxiety among citizens, many of whom were disappointed by this change, particularly those who supported the previous regime’s overthrow.

I present this introduction on the occasion of two explosions, one of which occurred 200 metres away from the most famous and largest hotel in the Syrian capital, the “Four Seasons” (owned by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal), and one day after French President Emmanuel Macron, who is regarded as the first Western head of state to visit the new Syria, as well as the first European president to meet with interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara, stayed there.

To try to understand the entity or entities behind this second explosion, which occurred five days after the first (last Thursday), it would rather not create casualties like its predecessor at the Palace of Justice (which killed 10 people and injured 22 more). Furthermore, the two explosive devices were manufactured crudely, with the first being placed in a car parked on the side of the road and the second inside a rubbish bin. The evidence shows that the entity behind this terrorist act is not the same as the one responsible for the Palace of Justice explosion. The overall purpose is to send two messages to the guest president, Macron, and the host president, Mr Ahmed al-Shar’ah. The two most recent explosions, whether targeting the Palace of Justice or the “Four Seasons” hotel, have one thing in common: no internal or foreign entity has claimed responsibility.

It is the means used by intelligence services competing on Syrian soil, representing multiple regional and global powers, to convey messages, and possibly directives, to the ruling regime in Damascus, therefore explosively confirming that the Syrian capital is no longer safe at all.

The Syrian capital has shifted dramatically over the last two years, from a metropolis restricted to bombing operations for several years to a city of explosive messages and a battleground for various international intelligence agencies and armed terrorist groups. There are three hypotheses for the entities behind the rising explosions:

• First, the Israeli occupation, which now sees security chaos and instability in Syria as a significant threat to itself, suffered a major setback when the Syrian government refused to send its forces to Lebanon to participate in the “Hezbollah” disarmament project alongside the Israeli and Lebanese armies. This Syrian posture was motivated not by concern for Hezbollah but by fear of becoming embroiled in a gigantic blood-soaked quagmire from which it would be unable to emerge.

• Second, the Islamic State (ISIS), which has recently increased its activities in various regions of Syria, particularly Homs, Aleppo, Raqqa, and Deir ez-Zor, may be responsible for these explosions, and its leadership has decided to move the explosions to the heart of the capital.

• Third, the second recent explosion, which was rudimentary in composition and resulted in minimal casualties on purpose, could be an early sign of the widespread anger currently present in Syrian society as a result of the deterioration of living conditions, which are far worse than under the previous regime, and the lifting of the suffocating siege. We must remember that more than half a million served in the army and security forces, and twice that number were state employees thrown onto the streets with no jobs, work, or even reasonable pensions to support their families.

https://www.raialyoum.com/why-did-netanyahu-not-bomb-khamounis-festival/