Expressing her country's deep concern over the humanitarian situation in Lebanon, Rice said that she was ready to go back to the Middle East "at any time that I think we can move towards a sustainable ceasefire that can end the violence."

Rice, who arrived here Thursday afternoon for her first official visit to Malaysia, said the key to resolving the Israel-Lebanon conflict is extension of the Lebanese authorities throughout the country, the ability for the Lebanese government tocontrol all forces, all arms within the country.

She told a press conference at the end of the ASEAN-led Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC) here Thursday that reigning in the forces and arms in Lebanon as well as having a United Nations-mandated international troops in the country formed a basis for seeking an end to the crisis.

Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon have been battling the Israeli army for the past two weeks. And the bloody fightings have claimed about 400 lives on both sides so far.

The U.S. government is working urgently to try to make it possible to get aid supplies to reach the people in Lebanon, she said.

Earlier, Rice and her counterparts from the 10-member regional grouping witnessed the signing of the Framework Document for the Plan of Action to Implement the ASEAN-U.S. Enhanced Partnership, a framework aimed at boosting political, economic and security ties.

Rice is also scheduled to attend the 13th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on Friday and discuss common security concerns in the region with other ARF participants.

The ARF meeting is intended to intensify ASEAN's external dialogue in political and security matters as a means of building cooperative ties with states in the Asia-Pacific region.

Friday's meeting will bring together the 10 ASEAN members with representatives of Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, South Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Russia, East Timor and the United States.

The United States is a dialogue partner of ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Rice flew in from Rome with two fellow diplomats, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and Canadian Foreign Minister Peter McKay.

Prior to her visit to Malaysia, Rice has traveled to the Middle East and to Rome on July 26 to discuss the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.