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Russia’s Defense Chief Arrives in Syria to Review Naval Drills

In this photo taken from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, Russian Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, speaks to a group of officers as a Tu-22M3 bomber of the Russian air forces is seen parked at the Hmeimim air base in Syria. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo taken from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, Russian Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, speaks to a group of officers as a Tu-22M3 bomber of the Russian air forces is seen parked at the Hmeimim air base in Syria. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
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Russia’s Defense Chief Arrives in Syria to Review Naval Drills

In this photo taken from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, Russian Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, speaks to a group of officers as a Tu-22M3 bomber of the Russian air forces is seen parked at the Hmeimim air base in Syria. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo taken from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022, Russian Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, speaks to a group of officers as a Tu-22M3 bomber of the Russian air forces is seen parked at the Hmeimim air base in Syria. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu traveled to Syria to inspect naval drills involving 15 warships and 30 aircraft in the eastern Mediterranean on Tuesday, the RIA news agency cited his ministry as saying.

Russia has deployed MiG-31K fighter jets with hypersonic Kinzhal missiles and long-range Tupolev Tu-22M strategic bombers to its air base in Syria for naval exercises, Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday, citing the defense ministry.

The aircraft dispatched to Russia's Hmeimim air base will take part in exercises in the eastern Mediterranean, part of a surge of Russian military activity amid a standoff with the West over Ukraine and security in Europe.

Moscow announced on Jan. 20 that its navy would stage an array of exercises involving all its fleets from the Pacific to the Atlantic, drawing on 10,000 servicemen, 140 warships and dozens of planes.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Damascus has been a staunch ally of Moscow since Russia launched an air strike campaign in Syria in 2015. Apart from the Hmeimim air base, Russia also controls the Tartus naval facility.

Russia sent fighter jets with Kinzhal missiles for the first time last year after expanding the runway at the base to handle such aircraft, said Rob Lee, a military analyst at the US-based Foreign Policy Research Institute.

He said the deployments pointed to Russia's growing military presence in the Middle East and its ability to operate in different regions and to project power.

Russian media have said the Kinzhal hypersonic missile can hit targets up to 2,000 km (1,243 miles) away. It is one of several strategic weapons unveiled by Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2018.

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Arab World

UN Chief Calls the Death and Destruction in Gaza the Worst He’s Seen

A general view of damaged buildings in Bureij, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, near the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from Israel, September 9, 2024. (Reuters)
A general view of damaged buildings in Bureij, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, near the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from Israel, September 9, 2024. (Reuters)
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UN Chief Calls the Death and Destruction in Gaza the Worst He’s Seen

A general view of damaged buildings in Bureij, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, near the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from Israel, September 9, 2024. (Reuters)
A general view of damaged buildings in Bureij, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, near the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from Israel, September 9, 2024. (Reuters)

The UN chief said Monday that the United Nations has offered to monitor any ceasefire in Gaza and demanded an end to the worst death and destruction he has seen in his more than seven-year tenure.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in an interview with The Associated Press that it’s “unrealistic” to think the UN could play a role in Gaza’s future, either by administering the territory or providing a peacekeeping force, because Israel is unlikely to accept a UN role.

But he said “the UN will be available to support any ceasefire.” The United Nations has had a military monitoring mission in the Middle East, known as UNTSO, since 1948, and he said, “from our side, this was one of the hypotheses that we’ve put on the table.”

“Of course, we’ll be ready to do whatever the international community asked for us,” Guterres said. “The question is whether the parties would accept it, and in particular whether Israel would accept it.”

Israel’s military assault on Gaza, triggered by Hamas' attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, has stretched for 11 months, with recent ceasefire talks failing to reach a breakthrough and violence in the West Bank reaching new highs.

Stressing the urgency of a ceasefire now, Guterres said: “The level of suffering we are witnessing in Gaza is unprecedented in my mandate as secretary-general of the United Nations. I’ve never seen such a level of death and destruction as we are seeing in Gaza in the last few months.”

The war has killed over 40,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have accused the UN of being anti-Israel and have been highly critical of UN humanitarian operations in Gaza.

Facing protests at home and increasing urgency from allies, Netanyahu has pushed back against pressure for a ceasefire deal and declared that “no one will preach to me.”

Looking beyond a ceasefire, Guterres stressed that a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not only viable, “it’s the only solution.”

The United States and others support Palestinian statehood, but Netanyahu, who is leading the most conservative government in Israel’s history, has opposed calls for a two-state solution.

Guterres asked rhetorically whether the alternative is viable.

“It means that you have 5 million Palestinians living there without any rights in a state,” he said. “Is it possible? Can we accept an idea similar to what we had in South Africa in the past?"

He was referring to South Africa’s apartheid system from 1948 until the early 1990s when its minority white population marginalized and segregated people of color, especially Black people.

“I do not think you can have two peoples living together if they are not in a basis of equality, and if they are not in a basis of respect — mutual respect of their rights,” Guterres said. “So the two-state solution is, in my opinion, a must if we want to have peace in the Middle East.”