Explosion in Beirut Lebanon
Lebanon has accepted the International Criminal Court’s competence to prosecute crimes committed on Lebanese soil since October, which Human Rights Watch called a “landmark step” towards justice for war crimes.
In recent months, the Israeli military and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have exchanged fire across Lebanon’s southern border in response to Israel’s assault on Gaza.
At least 70 civilians have been killed in cross-border shelling, including children, rescue workers, and journalists such as Reuters graphics reporter Issam Abdallah, who was killed by an Israeli tank on October 13, according to a Reuters investigation.
Lebanon’s caretaker cabinet resolved on Friday to direct the foreign affairs ministry to submit a declaration to the ICC accepting the court’s competence to investigate and prosecute crimes committed on Lebanese soil since October 7.
The regulation also directed the foreign ministry to submit in its complaints about Israel to the United Nations a study prepared by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), an independent research institute.
Lebanon and Israel are not members of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is situated in The Hague.
However, filing a declaration with the court would give it jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute relevant crimes over a specific time period.
Ukraine has twice submitted such declarations, allowing the court to probe alleged Russian war crimes.
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