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Middle East and North Africa

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Middle East 'quartet' needs to resume functioning — Russian diplomat

According to Maria Zakharova, it will bring to the negotiating table "the sides together with the intermediaries, with their friends, with everyone who is interested worldwide"

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation/TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

© Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation/TASS

MOSCOW, October 12. /TASS/. It is necessary to move toward restoring the work of the Middle East "quartet" in order to settle the current crisis in the region, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"It is necessary to move in the direction of restoring the operation of the ‘quartet’ of international intermediaries, so that the sides together with the intermediaries, with their friends, with everyone who is interested worldwide, could sit down at the negotiating table," she said, answering questions from Turkish journalists on the sidelines of the TASS-hosted roundtable discussion on the media’s role in strengthening Russian-Turkish cooperation.

"If there is indeed the desire for peace in this region, not as an ideal plan but simply in the practical understanding of this word, <...> then it’s necessary to move not toward deploying warships there or outrageous statements heard from Washington but in the direction of implementing and fulfilling all those resolutions of the [UN] Security Council and General Assembly that have been approved over all these years," the diplomat said.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when Hamas militants staged an attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its operation as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem. Israel has declared a state of readiness for war and announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.

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Middle East and North Africa Foreign policy Maria Zakharova

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