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The BBC's Wyre Davies: "This will be a huge event."
The coffins of Lebanese security chief Wissam al-Hassan and his bodyguard have arrived in downtown Beirut's Martyrs' Square for their funeral.
Thousands of mourners and protesters have gathered in the central square for the event.
Hassan was killed along with his bodyguard and a woman working nearby by a car bomb on Friday, an attack which opposition figures blamed on Syria.
Many at the funeral are protesting against Syria and its Lebanese allies.
The BBC's Wyre Davies at Martyrs' Square says the funeral is likely to turn into a huge rally against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, though turnout is lower than the organisers may have hoped.
Everyone's fear is that the civil war in Syria may spill over into Lebanon and that more violence is inevitable, he reports.
"Really, we are waiting for the fall of the regime in Syria. Until that happens, there can be no peace in Lebanon," one woman in Martyrs' Square told our correspondent.
Tight security
President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati - who has faced calls for his resignation over the killing - greeted Hassan's coffin at an earlier ceremony at the headquarters of the Internal Security Forces (ISF).
Hassan headed up the intelligence branch of the ISF. The car bomb exploded close to its offices in the east Beirut neighbourhood of Ashrafiya.
His wife and children were also there, flown over from Paris where they had been sent for their safety some months ago
Tight security was in place in Beirut ahead of the funeral. Protests had been held across Lebanon on Saturday; roads around Beirut were blocked with burning tires.
Hassan, who was 47, was close to the 14 March opposition and the Hariri family, part of the anti-Syrian opposition.
He will be buried alongside former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Rafik Hariri was killed by a car bomb in Beirut in 2005. Hassan led an investigation implicating Damascus in the attack.
Saad Hariri said the funeral should be attended by "all of Lebanon, which Wissam al-Hassan protected from the plots of Bashar al-Assad".
- Head of the intelligence branch of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces
- Sunni Muslim born in the northern city of Tripoli in 1965
- Responsible for the security of former PM Rafik Hariri
- Viewed as being close to the Hariris and the opposition 14 March coalition
- Responsible for the August arrest of pro-Syrian politician and ex-information minister Michel Samaha
Hassan also recently organised the arrest of a former minister accused of planning a Syrian-sponsored bombing campaign in Lebanon.
A day after the bombing, Prime Minister Mikati suggested the attack had been connected with that case.
A day of national mourning was held on Saturday.
Burning tyresAlso on Saturday, Mr Mikati offered to resign as PM, but President Michel Suleiman asked him to stay on in the national interest.
Opposition supporters set up roadblocks and burnt tyres in Beirut, denouncing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Lebanese allies.
Similar protests were held in Sidon in the south, Tripoli in the north and in the Bekaa Valley in the east.
Tension in Lebanon has been rising as a result of the Syrian conflict.
Lebanon's religious communities are divided between those who support the government of Syrian President Assad - including many Shias - and those mostly from the Sunni community who back the rebels.
Lebanon's Shia militant group Hezbollah - a close ally of the Syrian government - condemned the bombing.
Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi called it a "cowardly, terrorist act". He said such incidents were "unjustifiable wherever they occur".
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