NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Tuesday urged the international community, especially the United Nations Security Council, to put "much stronger" pressure on the Syrian government to bring about a political solution.

"It is for the United Nations Security Council to send a very strong, united message to the Syrian leadership: stop violence, engage in political process," Rasmussen said following a meeting of NATO defense ministers.

The NATO chief said he deeply regretted that the Security Council failed to reach "a legally-binding resolution that could send such a strong message."

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said that the Islamic republic will not back down on its "peaceful" nuclear program, Press TV reported Tuesday.

Mehmanparast emphasized that the Iranian nation will not back away from its "inalienable right to a peaceful nuclear energy program under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)," according to the report.

He also criticized the British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond for his recent comments on the Iranian nuclear program, said the report.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has hailed a "perfect victory", after defeating Henrique Capriles to secure a fourth term in office.

Mr Chavez won 54% of the vote, the electoral council announced, with turnout at about 81%.

Brandishing a replica of the sword of independence hero Simon Bolivar, he pledged Venezuela would continue its "march towards democratic socialism".

But he also vowed to engage opponents and to be a "better president".

Turkey has confirmed it is deploying more fighter jets to an airbase close to the border with Syria, amid artillery exchanges along its tense southeastern border with Syria.

The announcement came amid reports of fierce fighting in the northern Idlib province on Tuesday where Syrian rebels are trying to take control of a strategic town.

"Assad ... is only able to stand up with crutches," Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, who was once a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, told a meeting of his ruling AK Party.

"He will be finished when the crutches fall away."

Binyamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, has called an early general election, saying it should be held "as fast as possible".

The polls had been due to take place in October 2013 and Israeli press reports suggested the vote would be held in late January or mid February.

"My duty as prime minister is to put the national interest before everything, and so I've decided that for the good of Israel we must go to an election now as fast as possible," Netanyahu said on Tuesday, without giving a date for what will be a vote for Israel's 19th parliament, or Knesset.

Heriberto Lazcano, the leader of the Zetas drug cartel, appears to have been been killed in a firefight with soldiers in the northern border state of Coahuila.

The Mexican navy says fingerprints taken from the body of one of two men killed in the shootout have matched the records of Lazcano, known as El Lazca, confirming his death.

State authorities said that they managed to establish Lazcano's identity before the body was snatched, according to prosecutors, from a funeral home by armed men.

Al Jazeera's Adam Raney, reporting from Mexico City, said that it appears the government may have been "embarrassed" by the loss of Lazcano's body.