Author: Daily Sabah With Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed plans for Gaza during a meeting on Monday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said. Rubio is visiting the Middle East after President Donald Trump infuriated the Arab world with a proposal for the Palestinian residents of the war-torn strip to be resettled in other Arab nations and for the U.S. to lead reconstruction of the enclave. “The Secretary underscored the importance of an arrangement for Gaza that contributes to regional security,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a readout of the meeting between Rubio and…
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that a U.S. security commitment was the only way to ensure lasting peace in Ukraine and it was too early to say how many British peacekeeping troops he would be willing to deploy. When asked what a U.S. security guarantee would mean and what role any peacekeeping troops would have, Starmer said discussions were still at an early stage. But Starmer said that it was clear after an emergency meeting of European leaders in Paris that leaders would need to raise defence spending and take more responsibility for security on the continent.…
The Ukrainian military said on Sunday that Russia launched 143 drones to attack the country overnight. The air force said it shot down 95 of the drones and 46 did not reach their targets likely due to electronic countermeasures.
A woman was killed in Russia’s Belgorod border region on Sunday when a Ukrainian drone struck the car she was in, the regional governor said. Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the woman had died on the spot. Belgorod has frequently come under Ukrainian shelling during the nearly three-year-old conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Gazans should be given the choice to leave the enclave, if they wanted to. Speaking at an event in Jerusalem, he said that U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza was “right on the dot”.
The head of Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said on Sunday that Israeli troops must withdraw from Lebanese territory in full by a February 18 deadline, saying it had “no pretext” to maintain a military presence in any post in southern Lebanon. Under a truce brokered by Washington in November, Israeli troops were granted 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon where they had waged a ground offensive against fighters from Iran-backed Hezbollah since early October. That deadline was later extended to February 18, but Israel’s military requested that it keep troops in five posts in southern Lebanon, sources told Reuters…
Ukraine is ready to discuss “deeply” with the United States how to proceed in ending the war with Russia, its foreign minister said at the Munich Security Council on Saturday, adding that transatlantic and Ukrainian security were indivisible. Andrii Sybiha also said there was a “very simple recipe for how to end the war – leadership of the United States”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin would not dare to attack a NATO country, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said at the Munich Security Council on Saturday, adding that Moscow would face the “full onslaught” of the alliance if that were to happen.
Russian troops have taken control of the settlement of Berezivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Saturday.
China urged NATO to adopt a “rational and pragmatic” attitude and establish an “objective and correct understanding” of China, the foreign ministry said on Saturday. Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the comment to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, the ministry said. Wang said Beijing will continue to work with other parties to play a constructive role in promoting a political solution to the war in Ukraine.