Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that the Middle East situation couldn't withstand "cheap rhetoric" in response to criticism for Egypt's policies after the eruption of the Hezbollah-Israel conflict, the official MENA news agency reported Saturday.

In an interview with the Egyptian weekly Akhbar el-Yom published in the day, Mubarak said that cheap talking could no longer be tolerated especially at the current stage while calling for rallying Arab ranks.

Mubarak's remarks came five days after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad slammed some Arab leaders for their policies on the conflict.

"In the first place we want from our Arab brothers to stand with us... As for those who don't share our vision we only ask them to stand aside... a bottom line (is that) they must not adopt the vision of the enemy toward our issues," Syria's official SANA news agency quoted al-Assad as saying on Tuesday.

Egypt blamed Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah for its raid on Israeli troops on July 12, which triggered the 34-day-long conflict.

In the interview, Mubarak said that Hezbollah was part of the Lebanese national fabric and the Lebanese had their rights to resist occupation as long as it was based on a national will and served national interests.

The unity of Lebanon and the cohesion of its people were necessary in the future, said Mubarak, warning that any division among the Lebanese could put the country in peril.

He warned against any outside attempts to interfere in Lebanon's internal affairs.

Asked whether Egypt would send troops to Lebanon, the Egyptian president said that sending forces outside Egypt was a thing governed by the Egyptian Constitution and laws, adding that sending Egyptian forces to liberate Kuwait during the first Gulf war had been approved by the Egyptian Parliament.

Source: Xinhua