RIYADH, Jan 16: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice received cautious Saudi support on Tuesday for Washington's new plan to quell violence in Iraq, as she tried to rally Arab backing for the last-ditch strategy.

“We agree with the objectives” of the US plan to bring peace to the war-torn country, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said at a joint press conference with Ms Rice in Riyadh.

But he was cautious about the means of reaching the objective.

“We cannot comment on the means that will be applied ... We're hoping that these objectives will be implemented, but the means are not in our hands. They are in the hands of the Iraqis,” he said.

Ms Rice praised Saudi Arabia's role in “urging national reconciliation” in Iraq, and welcomed a greater Arab engagement in efforts to reunify the Iraqis. “If the Arab League is prepared to go forward with a reconciliation conference, that will also be very useful to the Iraqis,” said Ms Rice.

“I do know that the possibility of reinforcing Iraq's place in the Arab world through an Arab initiative would be a very useful matter,” she added.

The secretary of state has turned her attention to Iraq and Gulf region after focusing on reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in the first part of her regional tour that began at the weekend.

Ms Rice was aiming to drum up support for US President George W. Bush's “surge”strategy to tackle violence in Iraq with the deployment of an additional 21,500 troops.

The plan revealed last week has come under fire in many Arab capitals, even among staunch allies in the Gulf, with critics saying it provides a recipe for more sectarian violence in Iraq that could spread elsewhere in the region.

But Ms Rice on Monday won support from Cairo after meeting with President Hosni Mubarak in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor.

“We are supportive of the plan ... We are hopeful that plan will lead to the stabilisation of, unity and cohesion of the Iraqi government,” said Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.—AFP