CAIRO - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended the deployment of a US warship off the coast of Lebanon, saying it was designed to to show Washington’s readiness to defend its allies’ interests.

"As to the American military presence, the US exercise a military presence in the region and it has for a very very long time," Rice told reporters in Cairo at a news conference with her Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit.

"It is simply to make very clear that the US is capable and willing of defending its interests and the interests of its allies. That is really all that is happening there," she said.

Rice was responding to a question on the deployment of the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole to waters off Lebanon, amid concern over regional stability and Lebanon’s protracted political crisis.

She said the the United States defended the right of the Lebanese to elect their own president. "They have lived too long under the shadow of foreign intimidation and foreign presence," she said.

Lebanon has been without a president since last November amid political feuding between the Western-backed ruling parliamentary majority and the opposition, backed by Syria and Iran.

The majority accuses Syria of blocking efforts to elect a new president in Lebanon, which was under Syrian military domination for 29 years until Damascus withdrew its troops in April 2005.

The pro-Syrian Hezbollah last week slammed the presence of the Cole as military interference, while the Western-backed government said it did not ask for the warship to be sent. -AFP