Saudi Arabia has presented Lebanon and Syria with a proposed agreement to defuse tensions, amid rising Arab alarm over the steady deterioration in relations between the two countries since last February?s killing of Rafiq Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister.

Prince Saud al-Feisal, Saudi Arabia?s foreign minister, said in an interview with the Financial Times on Monday that the kingdom had found a set of general principles for an agreement, but was waiting for a response from Beirut and Damascus, where details would have to be worked out.