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 US bases, 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. 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. 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 the Red Sea. 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 — 2026-09-20

Iran escalation rhetoric peaks as US deploys strategic assets; Ukraine strikes Moscow infrastructure

Ukraine conducted one of its most significant strikes against Russian territory since the war's onset. Overnight 19-20 September, Ukrainian forces executed a massed drone and ballistic missile assault on Moscow and surrounding regions, reportedly involving over 1,600 UAVs with 450+ targeting the capital directly. The strikes damaged Moscow's largest oil refinery at Kapotnya, multiple thermal power plants, and reportedly targeted war-financing infrastructure. Ukraine announced combat debut of the FP-7 Pelican short-range ballistic missile system (200 km range, Mach 4.4 speed), which participated in overnight operations. President Zelensky characterized the assault as targeting multibillion-dollar Russian war-financing facilities. Russia's defense ministry claimed interception rates exceeding 90 percent, though damage assessments suggest significant infrastructure degradation.

U.S. strategic positioning in the Middle East intensified significantly on 20 September as multiple indicators suggest heightened preparation for potential Iran confrontation. Former President Trump articulated three policy options ranging from military action to diplomacy, while a U.S. B-1B Lancer strategic bomber departed RAF Fairford under full afterburner—typically indicating immediate operational deployment. Concurrently, the State Department issued coordinated security alerts across Middle Eastern embassies, advising Americans to expect airspace closures and flight cancellations. Trump's early departure from Camp David without public explanation, combined with intelligence assessments of Iranian escalation rhetoric transmitted via Qatar, suggests operational readiness planning may be underway. CIA Director Ratcliffe's concurrent visit to Cairo to discuss Gaza implementation, Iranian nuclear issues, and regional stability indicates parallel diplomatic engagement tracks.

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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