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GUEST: Rania Masri, a political commentator, scholar, human rights activist, and most recently Associate Director, Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship at the American University of Beirut.

A hundred and twenty nine people have been estimated killed in Paris, France in simultaneous attacks that took place on Friday evening. The attacks were carried out by suicide bombings and gunfire and came within a day of attacks in Beirut, Lebanon that left more than 40 people dead from a double suicide attack. The violence in both cases was random, targeting ordinary people, at a concert, at a market, in a cafe. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took responsibility for the attacks. On Saturday, the G20 meeting in Turkey, as well as the Democratic Presidential debate in the US, were marked by discussions centered on the violence. The Paris attacks have received far more international attention, partly because many more were killed, and also because Western coverage tends to focus on Western victims.

Here are the articles Rania refers to: ‘Now the truth emerges: how the US fuelled the rise of Isis in Syria and Iraq’ and We are in pitiless times. Also, follow her Twitter @rania_masri.