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 — 2026-09-21
US sanctions Iranian aviation as regional tensions escalate; Ukraine strikes Russian refineries
Ukraine sustained intensive Russian drone operations overnight September 20–21, with air defenses intercepting 147 of 172 attack drones launched from multiple Russian regions and occupied territories. Massed waves of Shahed-class kamikaze drones and reconnaissance variants transited across central Ukraine from Bryansk, Oryol, and Smolensk, targeting Kyiv, Zhytomyr, and Chernihiv oblasts. Ukrainian drone reconnaissance tracked systematic reconnaissance operations through northern Chernihiv, the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, and via Belarus-adjacent corridors, indicating Russian preparation for sustained offensive operations. Zelensky responded by demanding Russian cessation of energy infrastructure targeting and food export disruption, pledging reciprocal de-escalation if demands are met. The high interception rate (85.5 percent) demonstrates Ukrainian air defense effectiveness despite quantitative disadvantage.
The United States escalated economic pressure on Iran on September 23 with comprehensive aviation sanctions announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, effectively grounding all Iranian airlines through restrictions on landing rights, fueling, and ticketing services globally. Simultaneously, multiple maritime incidents in the Strait of Hormuz underscore persistent tactical tensions: a tanker sustained projectile damage with two crew members injured, while reportedly Iranian forces struck additional vessels. These developments occur amid expanded U.S. military posturing—satellite imagery confirms 25 tanker aircraft now stationed at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest concentration since February 2024. The escalating sanctions regime and naval incidents suggest deliberate coordination to constrain Iranian economic and operational capacity.
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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