What is Intel Mapper

Intel Mapper is a live open-source-intelligence (OSINT) war map. It follows two theatres around the clock: the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the wider Middle East, from the Israel–Lebanon front and Syria to Yemen, the Red Sea and the Gulf. 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.

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 — 2026-10-16

Israel-Lebanon-Syria Tensions Persist as Iran Rhetoric Rises; Russian Drone Waves and Deep Strikes Continue

Diplomacy around the war remained complicated on 16 October. President Zelensky said European allies hold enough Patriot interceptors to carry Ukraine through the winter, which reduces the urgency of an anti-ballistic request tied to an energy ceasefire. The Dutch Prime Minister said US-restored Starlink imagery is aiding Ukraine and that Europe will discuss independent satellite imagery with France. Zelensky also said Starlink speed limits for Ukrainian forces were lowered, while restrictions on military use remain in place and are not fully lifted. He argued that Putin does not want the war to end, that Donbas will not satisfy him, and that Moscow may accept certain sanctions and negotiation formats. The DVB Telegram channel reported that Ukraine rejected the energy strike ceasefire proposed by Trump, though the source did not detail the terms. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Europe should not offer Russia-related concessions without reciprocal Russian concessions. Trump, for his part, called Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries a disgrace and said Kyiv has no need to hit them, and he questioned the whereabouts of an estimated $350 billion in US funds and equipment sent to Ukraine.

Israeli military activity was the most visible feature of the Middle East theatre on 16 October. Reconnaissance aircraft were reported flying over Daraa Governorate in southern Syria, and a five-vehicle Israeli patrol was reported advancing west of Saida al-Hanut in the Quneitra countryside. Lebanese reports said Beit Yahoun and Al-Mansouri in southern Lebanon were under Israeli fire, with the weapon type unspecified. Israeli air defenses also conducted an interception near the Lebanese border and neutralized the incoming threat, though no target or weapon details were released. In Gaza, the IDF said a strike in northern Gaza killed Hamas weapons-production commander Mohammed Hala, and a second strike in Khan Younis killed a Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative. In the West Bank, Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, 63, was reportedly injured during a settler attack in Abu Falah near Ramallah. Netanyahu, speaking in Jerusalem, said Israel is not the obstacle to peace and will not gamble its survival.

Read the full Ukraine brief · Middle East brief · Archive

Latest 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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