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 — 2026-10-18

Israeli election rhetoric, Hormuz mine strike and Saudi border attacks; St Petersburg drone raids and Kyiv missile strikes

Ukrainian long-range drone activity against Russian energy and digital infrastructure was the dominant event. Overnight drone attacks on Saint Petersburg were reported by several Telegram channels, with fires at the Ruchyi oil depot and an Ozon warehouse on Sofiyskaya Street. One report, reportedly based on a multi-source tally, described hits on an oil terminal, a power substation and the Western High-Speed Diameter bridge, though these details rest on fewer confirmations. VK confirmed an attack on its data centre, a major server facility for Russia's largest social network, and Ukraine has been named as responsible in that case. Russian regional authorities also issued threat warnings for Moscow and Samara and deeper rear areas. Netanyahu separately claimed a bombing hit a Yandex centre in Russia and that Russian online activity fell by 60 percent; this claim is unverified and no location or perpetrator has been confirmed.

Political rhetoric dominated the Middle East theatre on 18 October. In Washington, Trump publicly endorsed Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of Israel's 27 October election and warned that the United States would have to confront Iran if Israel chose another leader. Netanyahu, through Likud, responded that he and Trump alone would destroy Iran's nuclear programme, and thanked Trump for his support. Tehran answered in kind. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran emerged stronger from the last confrontation, described unfinished business, and accused Netanyahu of dragging Washington into another war. Iranian lawmakers reportedly judged that new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei might abandon his father's no-nuclear-weapons declaration, a claim that remains unverified and should be treated as a signal of elite debate rather than policy.

Read the full Ukraine brief · Middle East brief · Archive

Latest reports

• One Explosion, Five Channels: How Conflict Mappers Handle Duplicate Reports
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• Tracking Houthi Strikes in the Red Sea: How Analysts Monitor Maritime Attacks
• The Israel–Lebanon Front: Geography, Actors and Understanding Strike Reports
• How Modern Air Defence Systems Work: Patriot, IRIS-T and NASAMS Explained
• Reading Confidence Scores: Making Sense of Intel Mapper's Reliability Ratings

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