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 — 2026-10-21

Iran deterrence rhetoric and Yemen fighting intensify; Witkoff meets Putin; Russian drone transits continue

Diplomacy dominated the Ukraine theatre. US envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, with talks covering Ukraine and the Iran crisis. Putin told Witkoff that Russia values its trust-based relationship with Iran and that Trump attaches importance to the war for humanitarian reasons. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Moscow was ready for trilateral talks with Washington and Kyiv in mid-November. Putin reportedly told Witkoff that the front-line initiative rests entirely with Russian troops. Kremlin spokesman Peskov said Moscow's energy-ceasefire position was unchanged, that Russia needs peace rather than a truce, and that the conflict cannot be resolved without Kyiv's participation. The Kremlin said Putin would review and assess every proposal from Witkoff. Separately, Russia released US citizen Stephen Hubbard, 74, after a visit by Witkoff; Hubbard had been jailed for over four years on disputed charges of fighting for Ukraine. President Zelensky said Russia was not winning on the battlefield and welcomed the US-proposed ceasefire as a diplomatic path. A single-source report, unverified, claims Zelensky would accept a freeze keeping about 75 percent of post-war territory. Taken together, the sequence shows active channels but no agreed framework.

Israeli rhetoric toward Iran hardened on 21 October. Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would keep fighting what he called the 'source of evil' and would not withdraw from security zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu pledged to overthrow Iran's regime and eliminate the 'axis of evil,' saying Israel had the strength to do so. Reports said dozens of Israeli fighter jets flew toward the Iranian border in a deterrence exercise, and U.S. officials reportedly suspected the aim was to provoke Iranian fire that could justify renewed strikes. The Financial Times reported that Netanyahu had planned a multi-day attack on Iranian nuclear, power and infrastructure sites for 10 October, and that Trump reportedly blocked it over concerns about the midterm elections. On the Iranian side, IRIB reported that Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf met Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei to discuss the confrontation with the United States and Israel. The IRGC said it was preparing to unveil a new weapon, the 'father of all bombs,' without details. Foreign Minister Araghchi said Iran would consider diplomacy only with strong evidence of genuine US commitment.

Read the full Ukraine brief · Middle East brief · Archive

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