What is Intel Mapper

Intel Mapper is a live open-source-intelligence (OSINT) war map. It follows four theatres around the clock: the Russian invasion of Ukraine; the wider Middle East, from the Israel–Lebanon front and Syria to Yemen, the Red Sea and the Gulf; East Africa, where the war in Sudan and the conflicts in Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan are mapped; and Asia-Pacific, centred on Myanmar's civil war. Every marker on the map is a single, dated event: a strike, a shoot-down, a ground assault, a naval incident, a capture, or a significant political statement, placed at the most precise location the sources support.

Events are gathered from monitored Telegram channels, X accounts, official military statements (for example the Ukrainian General Staff) and mapping projects such as DeepState and the Wikipedia conflict maps. Each report is read by a language model that extracts what happened, who did it, where and when, and then passed through a chain of deterministic checks: duplicate detection across channels, geocoding against our own settlement gazetteer and OpenStreetMap, country and region consistency guards, and frontline snapping for close-combat reports.

Every event carries a confidence score and a source count. One channel claiming a strike is not the same as three independent channels plus satellite-derived thermal detections, and the map shows that difference. Uncertain locations are drawn with an orange ring instead of a hard pin. Our methodology page explains the scoring in detail.

How to use the map

Switch theatres with the buttons at the top. The layer panel lets you toggle borders and control zones, event markers, the heat-map of activity, live military flights, and the Recent changes layers that hatch every area which changed hands in the last seven days (DeepState for Ukraine, Wikipedia-derived control maps for the Middle East). Click any marker for the full report, media and sources; click a control zone for its statistics. The time slider at the bottom replays borders and the previous 24 hours of events for any day since February 2026. A daily brief for each theatre is published every evening.

Coverage areas

Ukraine war map. The full contact line from Kharkiv to Kherson, deep-strike campaigns on Russian refineries, air bases and logistics, and Russian drone and missile waves against Ukrainian cities, with control changes taken from DeepState.

Middle East conflict map. The Israel–Lebanon front, Syria after Assad, the West Bank and Gaza, Iraq, and Iranian activity, including strikes on shipping and Gulf infrastructure.

Sudan war map. The war between the Sudanese army and the RSF in Darfur, Kordofan, Khartoum and Gezira, with control areas from the Wikipedia map of the conflict.

East Africa conflict map. Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan on one map, with the areas held by each armed group.

Myanmar civil war map. The junta and the resistance, air strikes, captured towns, and the areas held by the Arakan Army, KIA, KNU, PDF and other groups.

Yemen and Red Sea shipping attacks map. The Houthi–Government war, Houthi attacks on shipping, coalition strikes, and control of the Bab al-Mandab approaches, using the Wikipedia control map and verified capture reports.

Today's brief — 2026-10-20

UK Typhoons to Saudi Arabia as Hormuz incidents and US naval buildup continue

Diplomacy was the central Ukraine theme. President Zelensky arrived in Oslo for talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff and European partners on a peace plan, hosted by Norway and Finland. Finnish President Stubb said significant progress had been made quietly over the past week toward a peaceful solution. Zelensky also stated that Ukraine is currently receiving US intelligence that enables early warning of incoming ballistic missiles, and thanked the American side. Those warnings were relevant to the day's missile activity. Ukrainian monitoring warned of a probable Iskander ballistic missile launch from Bryansk, with S-300 or S-400 activity also possible, and later issued an all-clear stating that the threat of Russian ballistic missile use had ended. Zelensky further asserted that Russia is supporting Iran in the wider conflict, while Serbian President Vučić said Putin would respond with nuclear force to any direct attack by NATO, the US or Europe. These statements reflect a rhetorical linkage between the Ukraine war and the Middle East crisis that is not yet reflected in battlefield activity.

The most consequential development in the Middle East theatre was the Houthi escalation against Saudi Arabia. The UK approved a deployment of RAF Typhoon fighters, an A400M transport aircraft and military advisers to Saudi Arabia after a Saudi request, adding to planned refuelling support. The move follows Houthi attacks on cities and infrastructure. The Saudi military said it intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile aimed at Riyadh, and air raid alerts sounded in the capital before the interception. Separately, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei rejected possible Egyptian military support for Saudi Arabia, warning that further intervention would worsen the Yemen conflict and urging dialogue under the existing roadmap. Taken together, the day's reporting shows the Yemen front drawing in additional external actors, with Riyadh's air defence demands rising while regional powers publicly argue for de-escalation.

Read the full Ukraine brief · Middle East brief · Archive

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