U.S. sends warship off Lebanon coast

By Sue Pleming and Andrew Gray

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Signaling impatience with Syria, the United States has sent its USS Cole warship off the coast of Lebanon in a show of support amid Beirut's political crisis, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

Officials said the Bush administration was concerned about political deadlock in Lebanon, which Washington blames on Syrian meddling, and the move underlined that worry.

"The presence is important. It isn't meant to send any stronger signals than that but in fact it does signal that we're engaged, we're going to be in the vicinity," said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Mullen said the decision was not aimed only at Syria but at the region as whole.

"That's a very, very important part of the world and stability there as well as in the broader Middle East is an important outcome for us," he told reporters at the Pentagon.

A U.S. defense official said the Cole, a destroyer, left Malta on Tuesday heading toward Lebanon, adding it would not be within visible range of Lebanon but "well over the horizon."

A couple of U.S. Navy refueling ships were also in the area, the official said.

Lebanon's Western-backed governing coalition and its Syrian and Iranian backed opposition have failed to reach a deal to end the country's political conflict.

"The United States believes a show of support is important for regional stability," said a senior Bush administration official, who spoke on condition he was not identified.

"We are very concerned about the situation in Lebanon. It has dragged on very long."

The Cole was attacked off the coast of Yemen in October 2000 by al Qaeda militants. Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed.

Mullen said a group of ships will operate in the eastern Mediterranean "for a while."

The Lebanese government had no immediate comment.

But Hezbollah ally and Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun said the United States sent the Cole to display its deterrence capability and he was not worried about the action.

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