By Laila Bassam
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The pro-Iranian Hezbollah group accusedthe United States on Friday of endangering regional stabilityby deploying a warship off Lebanon and vowed to defy what itcalled an act of military intimidation.
The United States said on Thursday it sent the destroyerUSS Cole to the eastern Mediterranean because the Bushadministration was concerned about Lebanon's politicaldeadlock.
"The American move threatens the stability of Lebanon andthe region and it is an attempt to spark tension," Hezbollahmember of parliament Hassan Fadlallah told Reuters bytelephone.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, leads aLebanese opposition locked in a 15-month-old power strugglewith the Western-backed governing coalition.
The standoff, which Washington blames on Syrian meddling,has left Lebanon without a president since November.
"The American administration has used the policy of sendingwarships to support its allies in Lebanon before, and thatexperiment failed and backfired," Fadlallah said.
"We don't succumb to threats and military intimidationpractised by the United States to implement its hegemony overLebanon."
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said his governmenthad not requested any such move by Washington.
"Regarding reports that U.S. warships have arrived to theeast of the Mediterranean, it is important that I make clearthat there are no foreign warships in Lebanese territorialwaters," Siniora said, addressing Arab ambassadors.
"We did not call any warships from any side."
State Department spokesman Tom Casey said that for U.S.adversaries, the move was "just a reminder, that we are there".
"We have a long-term commitment to peace and stabilitythere (in the region), and we're not going anywhere ... weintend to maintain a very robust, defensive presence there," hesaid.
REPEAT
"America repeats the adventure of '82," the headline of thepro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper said, referring to a big U.S.military deployment in Lebanon after the 1982 Israeli invasion.
At that time the United States deployed Marines in Beirutand warships off the coast to support a Lebanese governmenttrying to reach a peace deal with Israel.
U.S. forces had to pull out after a series of suicidebombings by pro-Iranian militants, one of which killed 241Marines. The Lebanese government was forced to scrap its peaceagreement with Israel under pressure from Syria and its localallies.
A U.S. defence official said the Cole left Malta on Tuesdayheading toward Lebanon. It would not be visible from theLebanese coast but would stay "well over the horizon".
Lebanon's presidential election was postponed again thisweek to March 11 from February 26, the 15th such delay, afterrival leaders failed to reach a deal.
The deadlock has threatened to degenerate into sectarianviolence and continues to poison inter-Arab relations in therun-up to an Arab League summit in Syria on March 29-30.
The deployment of the USS Cole was announced two weeksafter the assassination of senior Hezbollah commander ImadMoughniyah, who was on the United States' most wanted list ofterrorists.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah blamed Israel forMoughniyah's killing in Damascus and vowed to avenge his death.Israel denies any links but its secret Mossad spy service hadsought the Lebanese militant for two decades.
(Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy in Beirut and SusanCornwell and Andrew Gray in Washington; Writing by Nadim Ladki;editing by Robert Woodward)
