Mayor of Lebanon’s Baalbek shot by armed assailants

The mayor of Lebanon’s eastern city of Baalbek has been shot in the legs by armed assailants in an apparent drive-by assassination attempt.

The attack took place at about 8:30 Monday morning when gunmen in a Honda-CRV approached Mayor Mohammad Awada’s automobile, opening the door and firing weapons, striking the mayor in the legs, said a security source as cited in a report by Lebanon’s Daily Star news outlet.

According to the source, the shooting incident in the Baalbek neighborhood of Ras Al-Ain was the outcome of a “personal dispute,” the report added without elaborating.

The mayor was immediately transferred to a local hospital for treatment as reports indicated that his wounds are not life-threatening.