Arab pop star Haifa Wehbe gets married

Lebanese singer Haifa Wehbe, the biggest sex symbol in the Arabic pop scene, was set to celebrate her wedding at a star-studded bash on Friday, a day after a hush-hush private ceremony.

The voluptuous 35-year-old brunette model-turned-singer, known for her revealing outfits, said "I do" at a private wedding service in Beirut on Thursday, her agent told AFP.

Al-Akhbar newspaper identified the lucky man who won Haifa's heart as Egyptian entrepreneur Ahmad Abu Husheima, one year her junior.

Guests at Friday's party are due to include American glamour model Carmen Electra, who gained fame by appearing in Playboy magazine, and singer Anastasia, the newspaper said.

Haifa started a trend across the Arab world in 2002 with her long dark hair and sultry looks and does not shy away from sexually suggestive songs that are often the center of controversy and blatant outrage.

The popstar is a self-professed fan of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah which fought a deadly 34-day war with Israel in July 2006 that killed some 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israeli troops.

"I admire his wisdom, his charisma," Haifa said in a Lebanese television interview after the war, adding that her admiration for Nasrallah grew after the war.

Haifa fled Lebanon to Egypt during the conflict but refused to sing in public until peace was restored in her home country.

Some more conservative Arab countries are highly critical of Haifa, who found fame with a music video that featured her dancing in the rain in a red dress.

In April 2008, Bahrain's Islamist-dominated parliament approved a motion asking the government to ban a performance by Haifa on moral grounds -- despite assurances by organisers that the superstar would dress modestly.

Nevertheless a prim Haifa dressed in a floor-length, V-neck emerald gown sang for her Bahraini fans in Manama a few days later.

Her portfolio mainly seductive love songs but she has also released children's song, including one with the English title "Naughty" and a track called "Buss al-Wawa," or "Kiss my little wound."