The Battle for Tripoli: Photographs by Yuri Kozyrev

3 minute read

In Libya, the fall of a dictator came faster than anyone expected. After six months of fighting along what were often stagnated front lines, the rebels succeeded last week in overwhelming the forces of Col. Muammar Gaddafi to take control of the Libyan capital. The sudden assault sent the enigmatic 69-year-old Libyan leader and his family into hiding; his forces scattering.

And throughout Tripoli, TIME contract photographer Yuri Kozyrev and I have watched over the past week as a population celebrates its victory over a tyrant. As security improves with each night, more and more families flock into the city’s iconic Green Square—now renamed Martyrs’ Square—where Gaddafi once delivered his bombastic speeches. And in a sprawling assortment of military bases, mansions, villas and farms, curious Libyans have sifted through the surprises and the horrors left behind by a 42-year-old regime.

Among the discoveries are Gaddafi family mansions, where odd assortments of belongings have offered a rare glimpse into the luxuries, eccentricities and paranoia that defined the ruling family’s existence for more than four decades.

In the center of the capital, rebel forces broke through the gates of Gaddafi’s most notorious prison, Abu Slim, liberating thousands of mostly political prisoners to tell tales of hardship, torture and disappearance.

But other discoveries have yielded little more than overwhelming tragedies and ominous signs of a desperate regime’s intent and capabilities. After days of fighting between rebels and Gaddafi’s forces last week, residents found a city strewn with bodies—many of them allegedly killed execution style and en masse.

So far rebels and journalists have reported at least half a dozen sites where Gaddafi’s forces appeared to have carried out massacres in the final hours of their control. Many of the dead are rebels and soldier defectors who were captured and tortured before their being killed. But at least one site, where the more than 30 victims might be Gaddafi fighters or supporters, suggests that both sides may have been guilty of brutal conduct in the battle for Tripoli.

Now as the country turns toward an uncertain and perilous future, Col. Muammar Gaddafi and his sons remain at large. And as food, water and fuel shortages disrupt an already fragile peace in the capital, many wonder whether Libya will be able to save itself or whether it will follow the footsteps of a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq into civil war and chaos.

Abigail Hauslohner is a Cairo-based correspondent for TIME. Yuri Kozyrev is a contract photographer for TIME who has covered the Arab Spring since January. To see his previous work from Libya, click here.

The charred remains of more than 50 people, victims of an alleged massacre by Gaddafi loyalists, lie in a warehouse on a military base in Tripoli, August 27, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
A rebel fighter leaps from a statue within Muammar Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli, Libya, August 25, 2011. After six months of fighting, rebels succeeded last week in overwhelming the forces of Col. Muammar Gaddafi to take control of the Libyan capital.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
A framed photograph of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is riddled with machine gun fire as rebels celebrate, August 25, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
A car passes two bloated bodies at the edge of Bab al-Aziziya Square where Libyan rebels and Gaddafi's forces fought a fierce battle last week, August 25, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Libyan rebels clash with Gaddafi loyalists in Tripoli's Abu Slim neighborhood, August 25, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
A rebel soldier motions to fellow fighters during clashes with Gaddafi loyalists in Abu Slim, August 25, 2011. Not far from Col. Muammar Gaddafi's fortified Bab al-Aziziya compound, Abu Slim has long been a Gaddafi stronghold; populated by government officials, military officers, and regime supporters.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Rebel fighters clear the stairwell of a building in the Abu Slim neighborhood of Tripoli, August 25, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
A Libyan rebel soldier prays as smoke from burning buildings fills the air in Tripoli, August 25, 2011. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Rebels scale a statue in celebration within Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli, Libya, August 24, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
A wounded Libyan rebel soldier outside of Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli, Libya, August 24, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
A wounded Libyan rebel soldier lies unconscious in the Tripoli City Hospital after clashes, August 27, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Rebels inside the house of Aisha Gaddafi, the daughter of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, August 24, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Libyan rebels burn a photograph of Muammar Gaddafi, August 25, 2011. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Rebels sift through photo albums inside Gaddafi's home in the Bab al-Aziziya compound of Tripoli, August 28, 2011. The photos were among hundreds strewn about the Gaddafi residence that depicted the Libyan leader with a range of African presidents and dictators. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
A destroyed bedroom inside Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound, August 24, 2011. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
A rebel fighter waves the new Libyan flag after intense battles in the Abu Slim neighborhood of Tripoli, August 25, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
A man displays an assortment of photographs of men believed to have been killed by Gaddafi loyalists before rebels overtook Tripoli, August 27, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Libyan rebels react to the charred remains of more than 50 people, victims of an alleged massacre by Gaddafi loyalists, in a warehouse on a military base in Tripoli, August 27, 2011. The alleged mass killing was one of several that rebels have so far uncovered as they consolidate control of the capital.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
According to witnesses, less than 20 people survived, fleeing the warehouse minutes later as fire consumed the bodies. Family members grieve outside of the warehouse, August 27, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
The dead body of a member of Gaddafi's forces lies on a mattress in the yard of a military base on the edge of the Libyan capital, August 27, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Libyan rebel fighters search detained Gaddafi loyalist soldiers during clashes in the Abu Slim district in Tripoli, August 25, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Libyan rebel fighters search detained Gaddafi loyalist soldiers during clashes in the Abu Slim district in Tripoli, August 25, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Rebel soldiers celebrate in Tripoli's Green Square on August 25, 2011, shortly after breaking into Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound for the first time.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Nearly 200 dead bodies were discovered at the abandoned Abu Slim hospital in Tripoli. Empty gurneys were strewn across the hospital grounds, August 27, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Dead bodies, some that appeared to be victims of executions, lie dumped in a yard at the abandoned Abu Slim hospital, August 27, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Vehicles and trash burn on a street in the Abu Slim neighborhood in Tripoli, August 25, 2011. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Volunteers clear bodies off the streets of Tripoli, August 28, 2011. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Volunteers sprinkle chemical powder on two corpses in the al-Intisar neighborhood of Tripoli, August 27, 2011. Volunteers have moved throughout the Libyan capital in recent days, removing corpses and garbage that were inaccessible during several days of fighting between rebel forces and Gaddafi loyalists.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Rebel guard Abdel Hakim al-Sheikhi stays next to the entrance to the underground bunker belonging to Gaddafi's son Muatassim, August 28, 2011. Muatassim's extravagant residence is surrounded by two sets of 60-foot walls, and contains a pool, spa, guest house and gardens. But below ground, an extensive network of bunkers, including a fully-equipped hospital, reveal a family that was well-prepared for uprising or attack.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME
Libyan rebels celebrate in Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound, August 27, 2011.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME

More Must-Reads from TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com