Lebanese leaders on Friday hailed late Saudi King Abdullah as an “Arab knight” and a “great friend” who supported Lebanon during tough times as the country observed a three-day mourning period.

“Lebanon lost a helper and supporter,” Prime Minister Tammam Salam said.

Saudi King Salman, who succeeded his half-brother Abdullah on his death on Friday, is a 79-year-old stalwart of the royal family credited with transforming the capital Riyadh during his half-century as governor.

Like Abdullah, Salman is seen as a moderate with a reputation for austerity, hard work and discipline, especially in his role overseeing the hundreds of young princes in the royal family.

Prince Moqren, named last year as second in line to the Saudi throne, was a trusted confidant of the late King Abdullah with a reputation as a liberal.

Born on September 15, 1945 in Riyadh, Moqren is the youngest of the 45 sons of Abdulaziz bin Saud, the founder of Saudi Arabia.

Head of al-Mustaqbal Movement leader and Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri expressed condolences on Friday to Saudi Arabia over the death of King Abdullah, calling on the Lebanese to mourn the monarch in all regions to express loyalty.

“I share my deep condolences with the Saudi people and call on the Lebanese people to mourn him in all regions to express loyalty to a man who never hesitated to support Lebanon,” Hariri said in a statement issued by his press office.

Saudi Arabia's elderly King Abdullah died on Friday and was replaced by his half-brother Salman as the absolute ruler of the world's top oil exporter and the spiritual home of Islam.

The royal court said in a statement that Abdullah, believed to be around 90, died at 1:00 am local time (2200 GMT), expressing its "great sadness and mourning".

Rights group Amnesty International said Thursday that Saudi Arabia would postpone the flogging of blogger Raef Badawi, whose case has sparked international criticism, for a second week on medical grounds.

"The planned flogging of Raef Badawi will be suspended this Friday after a medical committee assessed that he should not undergo a second round of lashes on health grounds," the London-based watchdog said in a statement.

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji will travel to Saudi Arabia at the head of a military delegation to participate in the fifth meeting for the chiefs of staff for Armed Forces.

According to al-Akbar newspaper published on Wednesday, the meeting will tackle the war against jihadists.

The trial of a Saudi businessman accused in the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa got underway in New York on Tuesday with jury selection.

Khalid al-Fawwaz, who was allegedly head of al-Qaida's London office until his arrest in 1999, is accused on four counts of conspiracy to kill Americans and conspiracy to destroy U.S. property.

Austria's chancellor threatened Tuesday to withdraw support for a Saudi-financed religious dialogue center unless it condemns the public flogging of a Saudi blogger that has sparked an international outcry.

"An inter-religious dialogue center that remains silent when it is time to speak out clearly for human rights is not worthy of being called a dialogue center. It is a silence center," Werner Faymann told radio station Oe1.

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday beheaded one of its citizens for murder in its 12th execution this year, warning it would mete out the same fate to perpetrators of similar crimes.

Mansour bin Awad bin Ziniegih al-Jabri was sentenced to death after being convicted of shooting dead another Saudi in a family dispute, the interior ministry said.