BEIRUT - Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz arrived in Beirut Thursday to take overas head of the UN probe into the murder of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, as Syria slammed his predecessor for comments linking Damascus with the crime.

Brammertz said he was "completely aware of the expectations on the part of the families of the victims, the people of Lebanon, and the international community, and I will do my utmost to meet these expectations."

He said his "priority will remain to assist the Lebanese authorities in their investigation" of the massive February 2005 car bombing on the Beirut seafront that also killed 22 other people.

He added that the investigating panel will also provide the Lebanese with technical assistance, as appropriate, in their investigations into the terrorist attacks perpetrated in Lebanon since" October 1, 2004.

Syria protested Thursday over comments by the Brammertz's predecessor, German magistrate Detlev Mehlis, who was replaced last week after the end of his mandate.

Mehlis said in a newspaper interview in December that the Syrian authorities "are responsible" for the killing.

Damascus has sent an official letter of protest to the United Nations calling for UN chief Kofi Annan to take action.

"It is unacceptable that Mr Mehlis used the media during his last days in office as a means of pressure and to express a deep hatred against Syria," it said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

A number of top Syrian officials have been interviewed in Vienna by UN investigators following an interim report which implicated Damascus in Hariri's killing and the commission also wants to question President Bashar al-Assad.

In the interview in question in December, Mehlis replied "yes" when asked by the Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat if he was "perfectly convinced of Syria's responsibility in the murder of Hariri."

"The Syrian authorities are responsible," he said, but refused to go into details.

Brammertz, 43, was a deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, in charge of the investigations division. Previously serving as Belgium's federal prosecutor, he has written extensively on global terrorism, organized crime and corruption.

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