Snow fell on Friday on areas located 200 meters above the sea level as powerful storm Zina swept through Lebanon, blocking mountain roads and plummeting temperature with wind chills driving them even lower. The temperature in the capital Beirut dipped as low as 2 degrees with wind chills. Education Minister Elias Bou Saab ordered […]

  The Lebanese army said on Friday that is has arrested in the eastern Bekaa Valley a Syrian suspected of belonging to a terrorist organization. The military said in a communique that Moussa Obeid al-Khodr was apprehended in the area of Qob Elias on Thursday. A patrol seized hand grenades, weapons and light ammunition during […]

The police officer executed by gunmen in a street outside the office of Charlie Hebdo in Paris was a Muslim. His name was Ahmed Merabet.

The story of Merabet’s confrontation with the Paris terrorists is turning out to be one of the most poignant in the whole affair.

And it’s proof, if further proof were needed, that Muslims are much more frequently the victims of Islamic terrorism than Westerners are. According to the Global Terrorism Index, 80% of all the deaths from terrorism in 2013 were in Muslim-majority countries Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria. Since 2000, only 5% of all deaths from terrorism have been in developed countries — although they have been among the deadliest.

Pamela Engel, Michael B Kelley and Dina Spector

French policeHandout photos released by French Police in Paris of Cherif Kouachi (L), 32, and his brother Said Kouachi, 34

Here are the two suspects in the murder of the policewoman:

Authorities in northern France are closing in on two brothers who allegedly carried out an attack against a satirical magazine in Paris. 

Simultaneously, a man thought to be connected to the suspects has taken hostages in eastern Paris.

Special forces and anti-terrorism personnel have surrounded a printing business in the small northern town of Dammartin-en-Goele after at least one person was taken hostage by the suspects. 

In eastern Paris, there has been a shootout at a kosher supermarket involving a man suspected of killing a policewoman on Thursday. Witnesses told the Associated Press that the gunman has an automatic rifle and that there are multiple hostages and people are wounded. At least two people have been killed and at least five hostages are thought to be inside the supermarket, according to AFP.

Denver, Colo., Jan 8, 2015 / 05:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The number of persecuted Christians in the world has topped 100 million, according to a new report that says even non-violent persecution of Christians has increased, amid continuing violence. “Even Christian-majority states are experiencing unprecedented levels of exclusion, discrimination and violence,” David Curry, president of the California-based Open Doors USA, said Jan. 7.

Curry’s organization has worked to help persecuted Christians for over 60 years. It was founded by a Dutchman known as Brother Andrew. He smuggled Bibles into Eastern Europe, whose communist regimes severely restricted Christianity and other religions. He said Open Doors USA’s 2015 World Watch List shows “a staggering number of Christians are becoming victims of intolerance and violence because of their faith.” The list ranks the 50 countries where it is most dangerous and difficult to be a Christian. It defines persecution as “any hostility experienced as a result of one’s identification with Christ.” These can include imprisonment, torture, beheadings, rape, and loss of home and assets.

  LYON: A "criminal" explosion occurred early Thursday at a kebab shop near a mosque in the eastern French town of Villefranche-sur-Saone, officials said, but left no casualties. "It is a criminal act," a local official told AFP, adding that a police investigation has been opened. No link was suggested with the deadly attack on […]

Lebanese officials and political leaders condemned Wednesday the attack on the Paris offices of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, which left 12 people dead, saying the incident was not only an assault against France but also against Islam itself. Prime Minister Tammam Salam sent a cable to French President Francois Hollande, condoling him over […]

  BEIRUT: Culture Minister Raymond Areiji Thursday dismissed fears that Jbeil’s historic harbor is "ancient" and threatened with collapse due to a powerful winter storm sweeping through Lebanon. “The archaeological site in Jbeil is the ancient city, where there is no damage and it is fine," Areiji told the Voice of Lebanon radio station. “Jbeil’s […]

Khazen.org prays for the victims that  killed 12 people and injured seven in an assault on the Paris office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

In Honor of the Victims, #CharlieHebdo and Free speech  below pictures of some editorial of Charlie Hebdo & press Support

 This post is being continuously updated.

12 Dead In Shooting At Paris Satirical Magazine below details

The escape was caught on Video

The Terrorists Who Attacked A French Magazine Displayed Professional Training

Gunmen armed with assault rifles shouted "’we have avenged the prophet" and "Allahu Akbar," or God is greatest, as they stormed the headquarters of the magazine that has in the past published irreverent cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed and the emir of the Islamic State.

Just before noon, two gunmen with Kalashnikovs exited a black car and forced an employee of the magazine to let them into the building in central Paris. Once inside, witnesses say that the assailants deliberately targeted journalists, killing the publication’s editor and killing or wounding a number of cartoonists.

Two policemen were also killed in the attack, with video posted online showing the assailants wounding one officer and then executing him in the street as he raised his hands in submission. The attackers then entered a black getaway car and fled the scene before moving to a stolen car. The jihadists are still at large.

 REPORT:  2 Suspects In Paris Magazine Shooting Have Been Arrested And One Suspect Is Dead

One suspect is dead and two more arrested after the shooting at the headquarters of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, according to NBC News.

The shooting left 12 people dead including several members of the magazine’s staff. Two gunmen and their driver remain at large.  According to Metro, by Wednesday evening local time, French law enforcement became aware of the names and birth dates of the alleged perpetrators. Metro reported one of the suspects is 34 years old, another is 32, and the third is 18. We don’t yet know which suspect was killed.

AFP reports that, previous to the reported arrestes, an anti-terror operation took place in Reims, a city in northeast France. Reuters reports that one of the suspected shooters is from Reims. Paris Deputy Mayor Patrick Klugman told CNN that police had identified the three men, and that two of them are brothers. He did not reveal their names, but said they are from a suburb outside of Paris. The two older men are reportedly French citizens. Metro reported the younger man is a student whose nationality is unknown and has no fixed address.

Le Point reported that French police were focusing on two suspects whom the magazine described as "French-Algerian." According to Le Point the two men, 32 and 34 years old, returned to France from Syria last summer. According to Le Point, in 2008, one of these men was tied to an Iraqi network in Paris that allegedly encouraged young men to join militants in Iraq. The magazine reported he was also arrested in 2005 as he attempted to travel to Damascus. In addition to the two men, Le Point said police were looking for a suspect who was born in 1996 and has no fixed address.

By Dina Spector

Police say that at least 12 people were killed and four were critically injured after two gunmen stormed the Paris headquarters of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday.

Here are the key points:

• French President Francois Holland has called the shooting a terrorist attack
• The gunmen are still at large and were armed with a rocket-launcher, according to France24
• Four people killed were well-known cartoonists, including Charlie Hebdo’s editor-in-chief
• Charlie Hebdo, a satirical weekly, was attacked with a firebomb in November 2011

The French publication was attacked at about 10.30 a.m. GMT (5.30 a.m. ET) by two gunmen wearing masks, who escaped in a vehicle. Graphic photos and video appear to show two shooters escaping from the scene.

Reporter Rebecca Collard

Ali Nasri Shamas holds a Kalashnikov assault rifle outside his hashish factory in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Shamas says the region’s hash growers are ready to turn their weapons against any Islamic militants crossing the border from Syria. Credit: Rebecca Collard