BREAKING NEWS

Lebanese pro-Hezbollah sheikh critically wounded in shooting

Gunmen on a motorcycle shot andcritically wounded a Lebanese sheikh who supports the Shi'itemilitant Hezbollah group in the northern city of Tripoli onTuesday, security sources said.

Saadeddine Ghiyyeh, an official in the Islamic Action Front,was shot multiple times in his car as he was leaving home.

A photo on the National News Agency's website appeared toshow Ghiyyeh lying face down in his car with a head wound.

Tripoli has seen on-off clashes between Sunni Muslimmilitants who support a revolt against President Bashar Assadin neighbouring Syria and Lebanese members of Assad's ownAlawite sect, which is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

Ghiyyeh is a Sunni, but supports Hezbollah, and is close toprominent pro-Assad figures in Tripoli. This is the secondattempt on his life. In September, he was lightly wounded whenhis car exploded moments after he parked it.