Leaders of key Muslim countries may be called for an "immediate" meeting to discuss the escalating crisis in the Middle East, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said.

The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) will not call an emergency gathering of all 57 members despite a request by Iran's president but may instead hold an "executive committee meeting", Syed Hamid said.

"If we are going to have a meeting, it cannot be some time in the future. It has to be immediate, it has to be quick," he told reporters at the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) ministerial meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

"And this is not going to be at the foreign ministers' level, we are suggesting that it should be at the summit level, at the leaders' level."

Malaysia is the current chair of the Saudi Arabia-based pan-Islamic group.

Syed Hamid said he asked OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu whether such a meeting was possible and "he should be coming back to me to let me know."

Hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday called for an emergency gathering of the group to discuss the conflict between Israel and the Shiite Hezbollah militia based in southern Lebanon.

The Malaysian minister told the official Bernama news agency earlier yesterday that there was too little time to arrange a full emergency meeting.

Speak with one voice

But Syed Hamid said the OIC - which has not yet issued a statement on the crisis - needed to speak with one voice.

"There must be a united position among the OIC countries," he was quoted as saying.

"It is not simply against Israel. It is just against things that are happening. It is consistent with the international laws and humanitarian laws."

Israel launched its offensive against Lebanon on July 12 after Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran and its main regional ally Syria, seized two Israeli soldiers in a deadly raid.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice headed to Israel and Lebanon Monday calling for an urgent ceasefire. She is due at the Asean Regional Forum, the region's top security meeting, later this week.

Her Mideast visit came as Washington appeared increasingly estranged from European, Arab and Muslim allies over a conflict that has killed close to 400 people and set off a major humanitarian crisis.

Before her departure from the United States, Rice and President George W. Bush met visiting Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, who was also reported to have presented concrete plans for a truce.

Syria, which backs Hezbollah and is blamed by the United States for stoking the conflict, warned that if Israel invaded Lebanon it would have no choice but to respond.