BEIRUT - Washington's decision to deploy a warship off Lebanon shows the gravity of the political situation in the Middle East, particularly in strife-torn Lebanon, the Lebanese press said Friday.

"The USS Cole is heading to Lebanon: the worst is looming," headlined the Saudi-owned pan-Arabic daily Asharq Al Awsat.

The pro-Syrian As Safir said the deployment of the guided-missile destroyer was a warning that the region faces "new wars which could spread beyond Lebanese borders."

The naval deployment "is aimed at exacerbating the divisions between the Arab countries and pushing them towards war," the opposition newspaper said.

Independent and pro-government newspapers saw the deployment in a broader regional context.

The pro-Western Al Moustaqbal said the sending of the USS Cole shows that "the United States has lost patience with Syria," while the independent Al Liwa daily said that the decision "is a message for Syria to stop intervening in Lebanon".

The pro-Syrian Ad Diyar newspaper asked if the deployment meant the US was gearing for conflict in the region "because the Americans want to build a new Middle East on the bodies of the Arab people and grab their oil."

The US said on Thursday it was deploying the Cole as a signal aimed at bolstering regional stability.

The decision follows the February 12 assassination in Syria of the military chief of Hezbollah and a subsequent declaration of "open war" on Israel by Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The US's top soldier Mike Mullen declined to pin the warship's presence to Lebanon's presidential vote, which on Tuesday was postponed until March 11 for the 15th time since September.

The presidential vacuum has entered its fourth month with no resolution in sight, fueling fears that a deepening sectarian rift between pro-Western and pro-Syrian factions could stoke civil strife.

Recent street clashes between supporters of rival factions have further raised tensions and prompted several Gulf nations and Western states to advise their citizens against traveling to Lebanon.

The Cole was the target of a bombing by Al-Qaeda extremists in October 2000 in the Yemeni port of Aden that killed 17 US sailors. -AFP