The National Institution for Human Rights in Libya ( NIHRL) has submitted a comprehensive report to the International Criminal Court (ICC) documenting what it says are war crimes committed during armed clashes in the capital, Tripoli, on May 12 and 13.
According to the report, the two days of fighting left 25 civilians dead, including two women and five detainees held in correctional facilities that were struck during the violence. Another 42 people sustained injuries of varying severity.
Investigators also recorded widespread destruction: 211 homes damaged, 35 civilian and government facilities hit, and 640 civilian vehicles destroyed or disabled by heavy and medium weaponry.
The report details how armed groups operated across several districts of Tripoli and its suburbs, including Salah al-Din, Ain Zara, Souq al-Jumaa, Abu Salim, Hay al-Andalus, Al-Siyahia, Al-Sarraj, and Janzour. It accuses the warring factions of using residential neighborhoods as military positions, employing civilians as human shields, and deliberately targeting prisons and other civilian infrastructure with indiscriminate shelling.
The institution stressed that these acts constitute grave breaches of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, rising to the level of war crimes under Article 8 of the Rome Statute. It argued that Libyan judicial authorities lack the capacity to conduct independent investigations or hold perpetrators accountable, underscoring the need for ICC intervention to secure justice.
In its statement, the institution said that submitting the report is part of its legal and moral mandate to defend human rights and to ensure that victims and their families are not left without redress. It called on the international community to support efforts to hold accountable those responsible for systematic abuses against civilians in Tripoli.
