A Jewish history teacher has been stabbed on a street in the southern French city of Marseille by three men who professed their support for ISIS.

The men, who were riding on two scooters, with one wearing an ISIS T-shirt, approached the teacher, named tonight as Tziyon Saadon. 

The 57-year-old victim, who was wearing a kippa, was attacked outside his home, a short distance from the school and synagogue complex, a source close to the investigation said. 

Tziyon Saadon (pictured left) has been named as the Jewish history teacher stabbed on the street in Marseille by three men who professed their support for ISIS. They showed him a picture of homegrown militant Mohamed Merah (right) on a mobile phone before launching their attack

They showed him a picture on their mobile phones of Mohamed Merah, a homegrown Islamist militant who killed seven people in a series of attacks in southern France in 2012, including three schoolchildren. 

Mr Saadon, named by the Jerusalem Post, was then stabbed in the arm and leg but his condition is not said to be life threatening.

He was taken to hospital as officers fanned out across the district to search of the attackers, who fled when a police patrol arrived in the area.