We identified the location of the alleged strike as the al-Fayush market. Using open sources, including images, videos and satellite imagery, we confirmed the strike took place in a livestock market near to a petrol station and multiple other services, such as a Qat market and restaurant.
Bellingcat and the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) today announce the release of the first round of investigations as part of a new project examining the campaign of airstrikes carried out by a Saudi-led coalition, including the United States, in Yemen since 2015. Over the next five weeks, approximately 20 in-depth investigations into the airstrikes…
This project, divided into two parts, originated from an open source collection of photographic/video material I acquired for an investigation into the identification and tracking of the UAE Army’s BMP-3 Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) and Leclerc Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) operating in Yemen. This article will focus on vehicles of the first type. This effort…
During the monitoring of the ongoing situation in Syria and Iraq via open-access satellite imagery, a curious situation presented itself in early January at the Mosul Lake. A black sludge stream resembling an oil spill appeared in the northwest part of the lake. The sludge stream disappeared late January, only to show up again on…
The OPCW Fact Finding Mission’s new report on the April 7, 2018 Douma chemical attack provides more details about what occurred in Douma nearly a year ago — and also allows us to compare those details and their conclusions to open source evidence and statements made by various parties. The Open Source Investigations A few…
Concluding in late March 2018, Operation Olive Branch resulted in the capture of Kurdish-populated Afrin district of Aleppo by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and allied Free Syrian Army (TFSA) factions. The bulk of Afrin’s YPG and YPJ defenders and over a hundred thousand of its inhabitants fled east to the nearby Shahba region during…
Iran’s Sadra Island shipyard is currently constructing another AFRAMAX tanker, satellite imagery acquired by Planet Labs confirms. Workers at the shipyard began laying the keel in late April 2018 but very little progress was made until November—the targeted month for the return of U.S. oil sanctions. New international orders have not been revealed in public…
As the Syrian Civil War enters its eighth year, previously overlooked ethnic and religious groups, and the divisions and alliances between them have garnered more coverage and analysis. After years of war and the break up of traditional loyalties, groups that were previously suppressed by the Syrian government have been able to reach out to…
Recent sanctions enforcement cases in Belgium and Switzerland have demonstrated that organisations within Syria have been attempting to purchase large quantities of isopropyl alcohol, also known as propan-2-ol, 2-propanol and isopropanol. European Union sanctions have controlled traffic in isopropyl alcohol to Syria since 2013. After Syria acceded to the Chemical Weapons Convention in late 2013,…
On January 10, 2019 a drone reportedly targeted a Yemeni government base during a military parade, allegedly killing six people and wounding many others, including several senior officers. Analysis of the attack indicates that a variant of an Ababil T drone, referred to as a Qasef 1 by Houthi forces, was used to attack the…
