BEIRUT: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrives in Beirut Friday for talks with Lebanese leaders likely to center on divisive issues such as the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the 10-month unrest in Syria, attacks on UNIFIL and the tense Lebanese-Syria border, political sources said Thursday. “In his meeting with President Michel Sleiman, Ban Ki-moon will discuss the situation in the region, including the democratic changes as a result of the current popular upheavals and their impact on the peace process in the region,” a political source told The Daily Star.

The source said the talks will also cover the tense Lebanese-Syrian border, the mission of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which was the target of three bomb attacks last year that wounded French and Italian peacekeepers, and U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. Resolution 1701 brokered a cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel following the devastating 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006.

It will be Ban’s fourth visit to Lebanon. During his three-day visit, Ban will meet Sleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Berri has said the issue of maritime border demarcation and oil exploration off the Lebanese coast will be the first topic to be discussed with Ban.

Weather conditions permitting, Ban is also expected to fly by a U .N. helicopter to the Lebanese border town of Naqoura, the headquarters of the UNIFIL Command, for a meeting with Force Commander Maj. Gen. Alberto Asarta Cuevas and contingent commanders. Ban will be briefed by senior UNIFIL officers on mission issues.

Ban is scheduled to hold a news conference at the Phoenicia InterContinental Hotel Friday evening. Mikati will host a dinner for Ban at the Grand Serail Saturday evening.

Final preparations for Ban’s visit and topics to be discussed with the U.N. chief were reviewed during a meeting at Baabda Palace Friday between Sleiman and Lebanon’s representative at the United Nations Nawaf Salam, according to a statement released by the president’s office.

Ban is expected to emphasize Lebanon’s cooperation with the STL, which is investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The STL has indicted four Hezbollah members in the assassination and demanded their arrests. Mikati last month transferred Lebanon’s $32 million share to the STL’s funding, overriding objections by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies.

Ban and Mikati are slated to open a two-day conference Sunday organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia on the Arab world’s transition to democracy.

The conference, entitled “Reforms and Transition to Democracy,” will be held at the Phoenicia InterContinental Hotel. Among participants in the conference are Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdel-Salam and former Arab League chief and presidential candidate in Egypt Amr Moussa.

This comes amid controversy over the visit after Hezbollah said the U.N. chief was not welcome in Lebanon. In his reports on U.N. resolutions pertaining to Lebanon, Ban called for Hezbollah’s disarmament, blaming the party’s arsenal for instability in Lebanon.

Last week, the head of Hezbollah’s Shura Council, Mohammad Yazbeck, lashed out at U.N. official Terje Roed-Larsen, who is tasked with overseeing the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, accusing him of being biased toward Israel. UNSCR 1559, adopted in 2004, calls for Syrian troops to withdraw from Lebanon and for the disarmament of Hezbollah. Yazbeck also said the U.N. chief was not welcome in Lebanon, drawing a response from the opposition March 14 alliance and threatening to split the Mikati Cabinet which is controlled by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies.

On the eve of Ban’s visit, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel called for the deployment of the Lebanese Army on the border with Syria and for the demarcation of the two countries’ boundaries in a bid to prevent infiltration and smuggling operations.