Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, Saudi King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are scheduled to meet in Beirut on Friday, amid fears of Sunni-Shiite violence erupting in Lebanon if the United Nations court probing former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri's 2005 murder indicts members of Shi'ite terror group Hizbullah. Analysts say those indictments would destabilize Hariri's unity government.

Agence France Presse reports that Abdullah and Assad are to arrive together from Damascus and meet Sleiman before attending a lunch with members of Lebanon's unity government, which includes two Hizbullah ministers. Beirut is one stop on a regional tour by King Abdullah, who is expected to press Assad to use his influence over Hizbullah to avoid a political stalemate or a sectarian conflict similar to the one that brought Lebanon close to civil war in 2008.