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

Hormuz stays shut as Witkoff meets Putin; Russian drone and missile activity continues over Ukraine

Diplomacy dominated the Ukraine theatre. Russia released US citizen Stephen Hubbard, 74, after a visit by Trump envoy Steve Witkoff; Hubbard had been jailed for more than four years on disputed charges of fighting for Ukraine. Witkoff was received by Vladimir Putin at the Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, where talks covered Ukraine and the Iran crisis. Putin said he would raise a possible Putin-Trump-Xi meeting in China and that Russia has further ideas to share. He also claimed that oil and world market prices fell 5 to 6 percent after both sides announced an agreement linked to the Iran crisis. The Kremlin said Putin would review every Witkoff proposal, while spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the energy-ceasefire position is unchanged, that Russia wants peace rather than a truce, and that the conflict cannot be resolved without Kyiv. Zelensky said Russia is not winning on the battlefield and welcomed the US-proposed ceasefire as a diplomatic path, while rejecting pressure to cede land.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council said the Strait of Hormuz will stay closed until six demands are met, including an end to military operations, lifting of the blockade and removal of sanctions. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran had delivered its plan to Washington and wants US acceptance of its conditions. Separately, the Financial Times reported that Netanyahu planned a multi-day strike on Iranian nuclear, power and infrastructure sites for October 10, and that Trump reportedly blocked it over concerns about the midterm elections. A tanker off the Omani coast, about 11 nautical miles west of Bukha, was struck by fire from an unidentified source; UKMTO said the resulting blaze was extinguished. Iraq closed its Al Sheeb crossing with Iran for a security review, and Tehran protested the lack of notice. Each item points to a region where maritime, border and diplomatic measures are being used as leverage alongside military posture.

Read the full Ukraine brief · Middle East brief · Archive

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