January 23, 2016
Low resolution Landsat imagery shows new activity at an airfield rumored to support a U.S. military presence in Syria’s Al-Hasakah province. The imagery acquired via the U.S. Geological Survey suggests the U.S. could be establishing further supply lines to Kurdish and friendly forces in the region in the effort to fight the Islamic State. Space…
January 15, 2016
By Aric Toler
According to Sputnik and multiple Russian-language blogs, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) recently deployed ten Russian combat robots in a battle in the Latakia province, leading to “about 70” dead rebel fighters and no dead SAA soldiers in fighting. Per the reports, these ten robots included six “Platform-M” systems and four “Argo” robots, which were…
January 8, 2016
Contrary to other armed groups in Libya, the strategy behind the Islamic State’s attacks on oil facilities is not purely military. It is also part of a wider strategy calling for the disruption of the oil industry, not only to affect opposing regimes but also western society and the global economy. Damage to oil facilities…
December 11, 2015
Water is playing an increasingly important role in the Syrian Civil War. November 2015 witnessed at least two attacks on water facilities in the Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor Governorates. Islamic State (IS)-linked ʻAmāq News Agency published two videos in which it claims that water facilities were targeted by air strikes from both the Russian Federation and the Combined Joint Task Force…
December 1, 2015
Videos of airstrikes targeting an alleged bakery in Syria’s Idlib Governorate sparked heavy debates on social media. The Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH) said it manages the bakery with funding from the Qatar Charity. This article examines what we can and cannot know so far about the airstrikes, using open source intelligence (OSINT). It establishes several certainties, but…
November 24, 2015
Following multiple reports of a Russian aircraft shot down by the Turkish air force images and video of what is claimed to be one of the Russian pilots has been shared online. The graphic video is available here, and by examining the video and photographs it is possible to see various details that confirms this is…
November 17, 2015
While the exact cause of the crash of Russian Metrojet Airbus 321 remains unknown, unverified statements from the terrorist group Wilayah Sinai* have claimed responsibility. The attack took the security world by surprise for a number of reasons; the target (Russian, rather than European/American), the device (likely a bomb on board rather than a suicide attack), and the group responsible (not Al-Qa’ida or Islamic State in Syria but a little known group in Sinai who have pledged allegiance to IS).
November 13, 2015
Previously, I wrote about Iran’s construction of the Sorocaima for Venezuela’s PDVSA in what was supposed to be a four tanker deal. Despite Iranian news stories to the contrary, the vessel was never delivered, largely due to Venezuela’s mismanagement of the economy. It also seems apparent that Iran’s burgeoning strategic relationship with the country was…
November 11, 2015
By Nathan Patin
In just three days, Russian aircraft have carried out 137 sorties, targeting 448 “terrorist objects” throughout Syria, according to a Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) press briefing held by spokesperson Igor Konashenkov on 9 November 2015. Three airstrikes previously posted on the MoD’s YouTube page were singled out by Konashenkov for closer examination. Given the Russian MoD’s well-documented propensity for fabricating information, it’s a…
November 9, 2015
“We intervened in Syria… yesterday evening with a strike on an oil supply center near Deir Ezzor on the border between Iraq and Syria,” Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced today. Given the location of the strikes, it’s likely the fighters were launched from their forward location in the Kingdom of Jordan. Satellite imagery has confirmed…
Subscribe to our email list to receive a weekly selection of stories published by Bellingcat during the previous week, along with links to our favorite examples of open source research around the web.
Along with our published content, we will update our readers on events that our staff and contributors are involved with, such as noteworthy interviews and training workshops.
You can support the work of Bellingcat by donating through the below link: