UNITED NATIONS - Key Western members of the UN Security Council on Wednesday watered down a draft resolution that sought to broaden the scope of the UN probe of the slaying of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri to cover other murders in Lebanon.

In the face of objections from some council members, including Russia and Algeria, co-sponsors France, the United States and Britain amended an initial draft that would have broadened the mandate of the UN enquiry panel led by Detlev Mehlis to "include investigations on the terrorist attacks perpetrated in Lebanon since October 1, 2004."

The new version, made public Wednesday, would authorize "the (Mehlis) commission ... to extend its technical assistance as appropriate to the Lebanese authorities with regard to their investigations on the terrorist attacks perpetrated in Lebanon since 1 October 2004."

It requests UN chief Kofi Annan in consultations with the commission and the Lebanese government "to present recommendations to expand the mandate of the commission to include investigations of those other attacks", including Monday's car bombing in Beirut which killed prominent anti-Syrian lawmaker Gibran Tueni.

The new draft retained a decision to extend the mandate of the Mehlis panel probing Hariri'S murder until June 15, 2006 and beyond, if recommended by the panel and requested by the Lebanese government.

The current six-month mandate of the Mehlis commission expires Thursday.

The new text also deleted paragraphs that referred to the Mehlis panel's findings further implicating Syrian officials in Hariri'S murder last February.

"The Russians are defending Syria in many respects and so we are going to work through the language on this," US ambassador to the UN John Bolton said. "But our determination to keep the pressure on Syria remains and we'll see how the consultations go tomorrow."

He denied that the changes amounted to caving in.

"The most important thing is that ... We're going to authorize the commission immediately to provide technical assistance to the government of Lebanon on this whole range of political assassinations," he said.

Referring to the Tueni slaying, Bolton said: "It's a sad thing to say ... but that crime scene is still viable and the trail that that evidence can lead to is still warm, so providing assistance to the government of Lebanon promptly is extremely important."

"The co-sponsors are of the view that the text we have presented on this issue is a good text," France's UN envoy Jean-Marc de la Sabliere said. "We are ready to continue to discuss it, but we do think that the text is right ... A resolution will be adopted tomorrow."

The draft also acknowledged Lebanon's request for an international tribunal to try those who might be charged with involvement in Hariri's murder and for an international probe into a dozen bombings that targeted anti-Syrian critics over the past year.

It expressed deep concern at the Mehlis panel's findings that Syria had yet to provide full and unconditional cooperation with the probe as demanded by a council resolution adopted in October.

It also called on the enquiry panel to report to the Security Council on the progress of the investigation every three months.

Mehlis on Monday said the probe of Hariri's slaying in February might take "another year or two" because of the slow pace of Syrian cooperation.

He briefed the Security Council on his latest report on Tuesday, citing fresh evidence suggesting that Syrian officers were implicated in Hariri's murder.

Mehlis also told the Security Council he would be leaving his post with regret to return to Germany as soon as a successor is appointed, but would remain available to help whenever needed.

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