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 — 2026-09-29

Russia sustains massed drone campaign; Iran signals openness to dialogue amid regional tensions

Russian forces conducted a sustained massed attack on the night of 28–29 September, deploying over 100 kamikaze unmanned aerial systems across Ukrainian territory, including both jet-powered Shahed-136 variants and piston-engine designs. Ukrainian air defense systems intercepted 109 targets overall, comprising one Zircon/Onyx cruise missile, two Iskander-M or S-400 ballistic missiles, and 106 Shahed and Geran drones. The scale and composition of the attack reflects continued Russian reliance on attrition-based drone campaigns paired with precision strike systems. Interception rates remain high, though the volume of ordnance necessitates sustained air defense commitment and indicates Russian willingness to expend assets despite losses.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that Iran maintains international engagement despite U.S. and Israeli efforts to isolate the country, claiming widespread willingness among global partners to pursue dialogue and cooperation. The statement reflects Tehran's diplomatic positioning amid regional tensions but lacks specificity on concrete negotiations or agreements. Meanwhile, U.S. President Trump declared imminent victory over Iran and an end to conflict, projecting rapid resolution of ongoing hostilities. These divergent narratives—Iranian emphasis on dialogue versus American claims of imminent military success—indicate continued rhetorical escalation without clear indicators of de-escalation mechanisms or genuine diplomatic progress.

Read the full Ukraine brief · Middle East brief · Archive

Latest reports

• One Explosion, Five Channels: How Conflict Mappers Handle Duplicate Reports
• How Russian Overnight Strikes Work: The Drone-Then-Missile Sequence
• 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

About · Methodology · Privacy · Contact · Daily briefs · Reports · All events