Lebanon is being targeted by the likes of ISIS and Al Qaeda for the past 40 years • In the past 10 years thousands have died from Terrorist attacks • Yesterday Beirut was hit yet another time by ISIS • We have over 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon • We have over half of […]

PeaceForParis PeaceForBeirut ‪#‎LiveLoveLife‬ ‪#‎LiveLoveLebanon‬ ‪#‎LiveLoveFrance‬ ‪#‎Khazen‬

At least 129 dead, 352 injured — at least 99 critically — following series of attacks in Paris on Friday night, according to Paris prosecutor.

President Francois Hollande calls the attacks — France’s deadliest violence since WWII — an "act of war."

Islamic State claims responsibility, warns that "this attack is just the start of a storm."

Three separate "teams" were involved in the attacks, according to the prosecutor. Seven attackers are dead, one was a French national known to police as an Islamist extremist.

The North Terminal of Gatwick Airport in England was evacuated on Saturday; reported French man with two guns arrested.

Several suspects arrested after a raid in Brussels on Saturday afternoon.

We’ll be updating this post as the day goes on. Check back or click here to refresh for updates.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty ImagesFrench newspapers are on display at a kiosk after a terrorist attack on November 14, 2015 in Paris, France.

The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility on Saturday for attacks. In an official statement the group said its fighters strapped with suicide bombing belts and carrying machine guns carried out the attacks in various locations in the heart of the capital which were carefully studied. One of the attackers was a French national and a known Islamist extremist, according to AP. ccording to a statement in French translated by The Guardian, Islamic State says that "France and those who follow its path must know that they remain the principle targets of the Islamic State." It continues:

…having dared insult our Prophet, having bragged about fighting Islam in France and striking Muslims in the Caliphate with their planes which have not helped them in any way in the ill-smelling streets of Paris.

This attack is just the start of a storm and a warning for those who wish to draw lessons.

The BBC reports that 1,500 soldiers have been mobilised in Paris today. Public buildings including schools, universities, libraries, and museums are closed in the city, and sporting fixtures in the area have been called off. Hollande also took the unprecedented step of temporarily closing the company’s borders, and has declared a State of Emergency.

The Eiffel Tower will be closed until further notice.

AFP reports that 300 people have been injured — 80 critically.

Dina Spector/BIPolice barriers and press near the Bataclan Theatre in Paris, the site of one of the attacks.

Here’s an early timeline of how the attacks took place. They were all closely coordinated.

Details on the attackers are starting to emerge

There are reports (via French newspaper Libération) that two passports have been found linked to two of the attackers. Additionally, one of them is reportedly a French national, as identified by their fingerprints.

An international chorus of condemnation

The UN Security Council denounced the ‘barbaric and cowardly terrorist attacks," according to Al Arabiya. "The Security Council underlined the need to bring the perpetrators of these terrorist acts to justice," it said in a statement.

In the US, President Obama has called the attacks "an attack of all of humanity." Angela Merkel says she is "deeply shaken by the news and pictures that are reaching us from Paris."

"Our hearts and thoughts and prayers go out to our French cousins in this dark and terrible time," Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau said.

The Vatican’s Rev. Federico Lombardi called the violence "an attack on peace for all humanity." He called for "a decisive, supportive response on the part of all of us as we counter the spread of homicidal hatred in all of its forms," according to The New York Times.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has also condemned the attacks, saying that such acts of terror were similar to what his people had faced in years of violent civil war. "What France suffered from savage terror is what the Syrian people have been enduring for over five years," the Syrian President was quoted as saying on state media and Lebanese TV station al Mayadeen.

REUTERS/Christian HartmannFrench fire brigade members aid an injured individual near the Bataclan concert hall following fatal shootings in Paris, France, November 13, 2015.

Islamic State takes responsibility, and says there is more to come

The attackers used guns and bombs at several sites across Paris, including the Stade de France, and the Bataclan Theater, where a hostage situation saw more than 100 killed. Eight attackers have died — seven after killing themselves using explosive vests, according to Reuters — and the authorities are now searching for accomplices.

Eagles of Death Metal, the rock band playing at the Bataclan Theater at the time of the attack, are believed to be safe.

Reuters is reporting that ISIS has released a video threatening France, warning that "as long as you keep bombing you will not live in peace. You will even fear traveling to the market." The video is not dated.

Islamic State is also calling on would-be recruits to "operate within France":

Terrorise them and do not allow them to sleep due to fear and horror. There are weapons and cars available and targets ready to be hit. Even poison is available, so poison the water and food of at least one of the enemies of Allah. Kill them and spit in their faces and run them over with your cars. Do whatever you are able to do in order to humiliate them, for they deserve only this

(Photo by Antoine Antoniol/Getty Images)Le Carillon bar is seen the day after a deadly attack on November 14, 2015 in Paris, France. At least 120 people have been killed and over 200 injured, 80 of which seriously, following a series of terrorist attacks in the French capital.

France was already on high alert

The nation has been on high alert ever since the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and a kosher supermarket in Paris in January 2015 killed 18 people.

Those attacks briefly united France in defense of freedom of speech, with a mass demonstration of more than a million people. But that unity has since broken down, with far-right populist Marine Le Pen gaining on both mainstream parties by blaming immigration and Islam for France’s security problems.

It was not clear what political impact the latest attacks would have less than a month before regional elections in which Le Pen’s National Front is set to make further advances.

The governing Socialist Party and the National Front suspended their election campaigns.

Hollande canceled plans to travel to Turkey at the weekend for a G20 summit.

Dina Spector/BIPolice near the Bataclan Theatre in Paris, the site of one of the attacks.

The mood on the ground

The atmosphere in Paris this morning is relatively calm and unpanicked, Business Insider UK editor Dina Spector reports. The Metro is still running, and people are still out and about and visiting cafés — although it is fairly quiet. One Parisian told us it feels "surprisingly calm."

Another local we spoke to, on her way to open her café said that the attackers "attacked the culture of Paris."

The Mayor of Paris has just arrived at Bataclan.

Dina Spector/BIFlowers and messages left by mourners at Avenue de la Republique in Paris.

 We’ll be updating this post as the day goes on. Check back or click here to refresh for updates.

Source: Reuters

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Tammam Salam (3rd R) speaks during a legislative session at the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon Novemver 12, 2015. Lebanon’s parliament convened on Thursday for its first legislative session in more than a year as lawmakers prepared to vote on mostly financial issues vital to keeping the paralyzed state afloat. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

By John Davison

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam held an emergency meeting with his security cabinet and military chiefs on Friday as the nation mourned 44 people killed in a double suicide bombing claimed by Islamic State.

The blasts late on Thursday hit a residential and commercial area in a southern suburb of Beirut, a stronghold of Shi’ite Muslim group Hezbollah, in the latest spillover of violence from the war in neighboring Syria.

The first attacks in more than a year on a Hezbollah bastion inside Lebanon came at time when the group is stepping up its involvement in Syria’s civil war, now in its fifth year.

By Faith Karimi, CNN

Lebanese army soldiers gather at the scene of Thursday’s twin suicide bombings in Burj al-Barajneh, southern Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 13, 2015. Schools and universities across Lebanon were shuttered Friday as the country mourned victims of twin suicide bombings that struck a crowded neighborhood south of the capital. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Relatives carry the coffin of Ibrahim Ali Abdo, who was killed in the two explosions that occurred on Thursday, during his funeral in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut, November

Lebanese army soldiers stand guard at the site of Thursday’s twin suicide bombings in Burj al-Barajneh, southern Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Nov. 13, 2015. Schools and universities across Lebanon were shuttered Friday as the country mourned victims of twin suicide bombings that struck a crowded neighborhood south of the capital. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A Lebanese army soldier walks past damaged motorbikes at the site of the two explosions that occurred on Thursday in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut, November 13, 2015. REUTERS/Hasan Shaaban

Residents inspect a burnt vehicle at the site of the two explosions that occurred on Thursday in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut, November 13, 2015. REUTERS/Hasan Shaaban

Boys stand on merchandises from damaged shops at the site of the two explosions that occurred on Thursday in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut, November 13, 2015. REUTERS/Hasan Shaaban

Lebanese forensic police and security forces inspect the site of a twin bomb attack that rocked a busy shopping street in a Beirut stronghold of Lebanon’s Shiite movement Hezbollah, the day after the attack on November 13, 2015 (AFP Photo)

Lebanese army soldiers, police and officials inspect the damage at the site of the two explosions that occured on Thursday in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut, November 13, 2015. Lebanon observed a national day of mourning on Friday after two suicide bombs the day before killed 43 people in southern Beirut, in an act the United Nations condemned overnight as "despicable." REUTERS/Aziz Taher

At least 43 people died Thursday when a pair of suicide bombings hit the Lebanese capital. More than 200 others were wounded.

Lebanon appears to be the latest nation victimized by ISIS’ wrath following the militant group’s claim of responsibility for the attack. Here are details about what’s going on in Lebanon:

Who is to blame?

While the government has not named the attackers, the terror group ISIS is proudly thumping its chest.

A would-be suicide bomber who survived the attack told investigators he was an ISIS recruit. The Lebanese national said he and three other attackers arrived in Lebanon from Syria two days ago, according to a source.

Lebanese intelligence officials said the bombers could be part of a cell dispatched to Beirut by ISIS leadership, but investigators are working to verify the surviving suspect’s claim.

ISIS is also purportedly circulating a statement on social media claiming responsibility for the blasts. CNN hasn’t confirmed the authenticity of the statement.

By Hugh Naylor

BEIRUT — Twin suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State killed dozens of people and wounded more than 200 in Beirut on Thursday, raising fears of intensified attempts by the radical Sunni group to undermine Lebanon’s fragile stability.

In the worst attack to hit the Lebanese capital in years, assailants targeted a southern suburb where many loyalists of the powerful Shiite Hezbollah militia live. The explosions killed at least 43 people, officials said, and left little doubt that the attackers struck with the intent of stirring up Lebanon’s volatile sectarian divisions.

Hezbollah is fighting alongside Syrian government forces against the Sunni-led rebellion in Syria, drawing the ire of such militantly anti-Shiite groups as the Islamic State. Lebanon faced a string of similar bombings more than a year ago that also targeted the largely Shiite areas of Beirut.

By bassem mroue, associated press A Lebanese official says the death toll from a twin suicide bombing that struck a Shiite suburb in southern Beirut has reached 16. George Kittaneh, head of the Lebanese Red Cross operations, told Lebanon’s LBC television that along with the 26 killed, the Thursday evening attack also left 40 wounded. […]

Natasha Bertrand

In an effort to increase its negotiating leverage during Syria peace talks in Vienna, the Obama administration has adopted a combined military and diplomatic approach that resembles a strategy employed last year to strong-arm Iran into negotiating with the West over its nuclear program.

In Syria, as in Iran, Washington is trying to pressure defiant parties into accepting the West’s terms by changing facts on the ground.

With Iran, it was economic sanctions, an increased military presence in the Persian Gulf, and a covert intelligence war. With Syria, it is a timeline for the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the (perhaps symbolic) deployment of 50 special-operations forces to northeastern Syria to help local elements fight ISIS, and a covert CIA program to arm moderate Syrian rebels with antitank missiles.