[JURIST] Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] on Friday condemned [press release] the bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, as an “appalling disregard for human life.” The attack killed at least 41 people in the capital of Lebanon. The Islamic State (IS) [JURIST Backgrounder] has taken responsibility for the attack in which two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the predominantly Shi’a suburb of Burj al-Barajneh. AI stated that the attack further highlights the spreading problem of the Syrian conflict. AI has again called on the UN Security council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate all suspected war crimes and crimes against humanity.

IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also claimed responsibility for a series of coordinated attacks in Paris on Friday that killed more than 120. In September members of Iraq’s Yazidi community met with ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in The Hague and urged [JURIST report] the court to open a genocide investigation into IS actions in Northern Iraq. Also in September France launched its first airstrikes [JURIST report] against an IS training camp in Syria and acknowledged that combating IS is now the main objective in both Iraq and Syria.