March 15, 2019
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…
March 5, 2019
It has become abundantly clear that geolocation and remote sensing is fundamental to knowing what happens in conflict areas where it is often too dangerous for journalists, observers and analysts to be present on the ground. This is a satellite-based case study on vetting a three-dimensional view of an area via Google Earth, featuring examples…
March 1, 2019
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…
March 1, 2019
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…
February 7, 2019
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…
January 22, 2019
By Dan Kaszeta
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,…
January 3, 2019
When the season of heavy rainfall began in war-torn Syria, the misery local residents and internally displaced persons (IDPs) have faced over the years was compounded by environmental setbacks. This open-source monitoring blog of the situation in north eastern Syria, currently controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), will look how the rains in the…
December 16, 2018
Italy’s arms industry is growing, and the country has already been one of the world’s biggest arms exporters for years. Since 1990, thousands of arms exports licences have been granted, with some of the biggest customers being Algeria, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. The European Union (EU) has safeguards in place to prevent weapons…
December 7, 2018
By Bellingcat Investigation Team
Has the Syrian government been forced to chain young men together to recruit them into the military? An image purporting to be from Damascus certainly gives this impression, showing several young men being forced into a van, apparently tied together with a chain or rope, with soldiers standing by. The image and the explanation for…
November 5, 2018
Since the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and allied Syrian Arab and Turkmen militias concluded “Operation Olive Branch” in Syria in late March of 2018, allegations of human rights abuses have widely circulated on social media. Among these charges is the destruction of graveyards and accompanying shrines throughout Afrin. Videos and photographs have surfaced depicting Yezidi…
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