USS Cole Heads To Mediterranean Sea

Cairo, Egypt (AHN) - As President George W. Bush heads to the Middle East this week, an American warship crossed the Suez Canal on Sunday on its way to the Mediterranean Sea. The USS Cole had been in the Mediterranean in February to monitor the crisis in Lebanon and is returning after deadly clashes in the struggling nation left over 40 people dead.

An official in Cairo told AHN Media Corporation that the vessel was returning to the Mediterranean, but he did not give its exact destination.

US officials in late February said a guided-missile destroyer was sent to the waters around Lebanon as "a show of support for regional stability" during Lebanon's political crisis.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended that deployment at the time arguing that it showed American resoluteness to defend "the interests of its allies" in the Middle East.

The USS Cole returned to the Gulf region in March, but last week's politically motivated sectarian violence in Lebanon made the return possible.

Lebanon has been without a president since last November amid political tensions between the ruling majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition.