Forces loyal to Libyan leader Colonel Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi
unlawfully killed and injured several thousand people, including
peaceful protesters and bystanders, after anti-government
protests broke out in mid-February and then developed into an
armed conflict that lasted around eight months. During the
conflict, international forces, acting under a UN Security
Council mandate to protect civilians, attacked al-Gaddafi forces
from the air, helping to tip the balance in favour of opposition
forces. Al-Gaddafi forces fired mortars, artillery and rockets
into residential areas and used anti-personnel mines, cluster
munitions and other inherently indiscriminate weapons; these
indiscriminate attacks caused numerous civilian casualties,
particularly in Misratah, Libya’s third largest city. Al-Gaddafi
forces also abducted thousands of individuals and tortured or
ill-treated them, and extrajudicially executed captured fighters
and other detainees. Opposition forces used rockets and other
indiscriminate weapons in residen