Syria has arrested five people suspected of having links to the shooting of US and Syrian troops in the central Syrian town of Palmyra on Saturday, the Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

Two US Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed by an attacker who targeted a convoy of American and Syrian forces before being shot dead. The Syrian Interior Ministry has described the attacker as a member of the Syrian security forces suspected of sympathising with Daesh.

Syria has been cooperating with a US-led coalition against Daesh, reaching an agreement last month when President Ahmed al-Sharaa visited the White House.

Syria’s Interior Ministry said its units in Palmyra carried out an operation in coordination with “international coalition forces” that resulted in the arrest of five suspects “who were immediately referred for questioning”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the attack by phone with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani on Sunday. Shibani “offered condolences and reiterated the commitment of the Syrian government to degrade and destroy the shared threat of Daesh,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said.

Syria’s Interior Ministry said it had assessed the assailant just days before the attack, and concluded he might have extremist views. A decision about his future had been pending.

The US-led coalition has carried out air strikes and ground operations in Syria targeting Daesh suspects in recent months, often with the involvement of Syria’s security forces. Syria last month also carried out a nationwide campaign, arresting more than 70 people accused of links to the group.

The United States has troops stationed in northeastern Syria as part of a decade-long effort to fight Daesh, which held swathes of Syria and Iraq from 2014-2019.

Syria’s government is now led by former rebels who toppled leader Bashar al-Assad last year after a 13-year civil war, including members of Syria’s former Al Qaeda branch who broke with the group and clashed with Daesh.

• Berlin, New York, Warsaw, London enhance police presence.
• Berlin’s menorah lighting includes prayer for Sydney victims.
• France boosts security around Jewish sites during Hanukkah.

Major cities, including Berlin, London and New York, stepped up security around Hanukkah events on Sunday following the attack on a Jewish holiday celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.

Berlin police said they were ramping up measures around the German capital’s Brandenburg Gate, where a large electric menorah is being lit to mark the first night of Hanukkah.

“We have long planned comprehensive security for tonight’s Hanukkah event at the Brandenburg Gate – in light of the events in Sydney, we will further intensify our measures and maintain a strong police presence there,” a spokesperson said on X.

Meanwhile, New York Mayor Eric Adams said on X that extra protection was being deployed for Hanukkah celebrations and synagogues in New York City.

“We will continue to ensure the Jewish community can celebrate the holiday in safety — including at public Menorah lightings across the city. Let us pray for the injured and stand together against hatred,” Adams said.

In Warsaw’s main synagogue, armed security was doubled for its Sunday evening event.

Polish police also said they had decided to ramp up security.

“Due to the geopolitical situation and the attack in Sydney, we are strengthening preventive measures around diplomatic missions and places of worship,” a press officer for Poland’s National Police Headquarters told Reuters in a text message.

The officer specified this meant “intensified preventive measures in the area of ​​diplomatic and consular missions, religious sites and other institutions related to Israel and Palestine.”

The event at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate will also include a prayer for the victims of Sydney’s Bondi Beach shooting, which left several people dead in what Australian officials described as a targeted antisemitic attack.

Germany has long followed a policy of special responsibility for Jews and for Israel, known as the Staatsraeson, due to the legacy of the Nazi Holocaust.

Security measures at synagogues and other Jewish institutions are the norm in Berlin, but a police spokesperson said these would be ramped up for the Hanukkah period.

London’s Metropolitan Police said it had also increased security, but did not want to give details.

“While there is no information to suggest any link between the attack in Sydney and the threat level in London, this morning we are stepping up our police presence, carrying out additional community patrols and engaging with the Jewish community to understand what more we can do in the coming hours and days,” it said in a statement.

France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez asked local authorities to reinforce security around Jewish places of worship during the December 14 to 22 period, a spokesperson for the minister said.

Nunez called for increased deployment of security forces, with particular vigilance around religious services and gatherings that draw large crowds, especially when they take place in public spaces, the spokesperson added.

• Zelenskiy seeks Western security guarantees instead.
• Ukraine president meets Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff.
• European leaders due in Germany for talks on Monday.
  

Ukraine has relinquished its aim to join the Nato military alliance in exchange for Western security guarantees as a compromise to end the war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday as peace talks got underway in Berlin.

Zelenskiy aired the concession as he flew to the German capital, where he began meetings with US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner in efforts to end Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two.

The move marks a major shift for Ukraine, which has fought to join Nato as a safeguard against Russian attacks and has such an aspiration included in its constitution. It also meets one of Russia’s war aims, although Kyiv has so far held firm against ceding territory to Moscow.

Zelenskiy met the US envoys at talks hosted by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who a source said had made brief remarks before leaving the two sides to negotiate. Other European leaders are also due in Germany for talks on Monday.

Security guarantees from the United States, Europe and other partners instead of Nato membership represented a compromise on Ukraine’s side, Zelenskiy said ahead of Sunday’s discussions.

“From the very beginning, Ukraine’s desire was to join Nato, these are real security guarantees. Some partners from the US and Europe did not support this direction,” he said in answer to questions from reporters in a WhatsApp chat.

“Thus, today, bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the US, Article 5-like guarantees for us from the US, and security guarantees from European colleagues, as well as other countries — Canada, Japan — are an opportunity to prevent another Russian invasion,” Zelenskiy said.

“And it is already a compromise from our part,” he said, adding that the security guarantees should be legally binding.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly demanded that Ukraine officially renounce its Nato ambitions and withdraw troops from the about 10% of Donbas which Kyiv still controls. Moscow has also said that Ukraine must be a neutral country and that no Nato troops can be stationed in Ukraine.

Russian sources said earlier this year that Putin wants a “written” pledge by major Western powers not to enlarge the US-led Nato alliance eastwards — shorthand for formally ruling out membership to Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and other former Soviet republics.

Zelenskiy had earlier called for a “dignified” peace and guarantees that Russia would not attack Ukraine again.

Under pressure from Trump to sign a peace deal that initially backed Moscow’s demands, Zelenskiy accused Russia of dragging out the war through deadly bombings of cities and Ukraine’s power and water supplies.

Sending Witkoff, who has led negotiations with Ukraine and Russia on a US peace proposal, appeared to be a signal that Washington saw a chance of progress nearly four years after Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Zelenskiy said Ukraine, the Europeans and US are looking at a 20-point plan and that at the end of this there is a ceasefire. He said Kyiv has no direct talks with Russia.

A ceasefire along the current front lines would be a fair option, he added.

‘Critical moment’

Britain, France and Germany have been working to refine the US proposals, which in a draft disclosed last month called for Kyiv to cede more territory, abandon its Nato ambitions and accept limits on its armed forces.

European allies have described this as a “critical moment” that could shape Ukraine’s future, and sought to shore up Kyiv’s finances by leveraging frozen Russian central bank assets to fund Kyiv’s military and civilian budget.

Putin hosted Witkoff and Kushner at a meeting earlier in December that the Kremlin praised as “constructive”, although no major breakthroughs were reached.

Zelenskiy said hundreds of thousands were still without power after Russian strikes on energy, heating and water supplies across Ukraine,

“Russia is dragging out the war and seeks to inflict as much harm as possible on our people,” he said.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine caused relations with the West to plummet and has cranked up warnings from Nato and European leaders that Putin would not stop there.

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said in a speech in Berlin on Thursday that Nato should be “prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured” and asserted that “we are Russia’s next target”.

The Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed such claims.

“This seems like a statement by a representative of a generation that has managed to forget what World War Two was actually like,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television reporter Pavel Zarubin on Sunday.

“They have no understanding, and unfortunately, Mr Rutte, making such irresponsible statements, simply does not understand what he is talking about,” Peskov added.