Several days ago Ukrainian troops in Kharkiv launched a counter-offensive towards the strategic city of Izyum. Satellite imagery from Yesterday shows dozens of fires (likely from shelling) approaching Izyum from the west. The closest is 600m from the city. apps.sentinel-hub.com/eo-browser/?zo…
Both Yesterday and the day before lower resolution satellite imagery showed fighting closer to the city, and I've been mapping it accordingly, but I'm still shocked at the apparent ferocity of the fighting around Izyum and how close it has gotten to the city.
What is also interesting is that these fires are not just to the West of Izyum but also to the East, suggesting Ukraine is pushing from multiple directions.
Also, note there's no evidence of any bridgehead under firm Ukrainian control, so there's no 'blue' on my map in the areas with fighting. This is because the units there are likely highly mobile, ambush and harassment units. However, I assess that Russia has lost firm control.
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As the man who disarmed a terrorist shooter in Bondi is named as Ahmed El Ahmad, a Muslim name, there is already AI-generated disinformation falsely claiming the hero was a Sydney-born local called "Edward Crabtree", with an entire AI-generated backstory. archive.is/K5eSI
The entire website is built around this disinformation (try clicking any of the related articles) and falsely attributes quotes to the NSW Police Commissioner, the Australian Prime Minister, the made-up Crabtree and several others.
Meanwhile, people are already trying to 'community note' posts about al-Ahmad. The person who wrote this community note has only previously written in Brazilian Portuguese, generally forwarding right-wing talking points.
A 🧵(ongoing) of geolocations from recent escalations on the Thai-Cambodia border.
Firstly, Thailand has claimed it has launched a ground operation into Sa Kaeo, near Chouk Cheay / Ban Nong Chan. Smoke rounds are around 1km beyond the previous forward deployment of Thai troops.
13.766103, 102.702367
These screengrabs (geolocated first by @RoadtoMars9 ) show Thai infantry fighting vehicles advancing past the de-facto barbed wire border, presumably at least towards the Thai interpretation of the border (purple line)
13.8174, 102.7369
🧵A detailed timeline on escalations in the lead-up to yesterday's clashes between Thailand and Cambodia.
Much of the escalation seems to stem from Cambodia, with their troops fortifying many sectors before the May 28 clashes and surging strategic assets immediately after.
🗺️ - heatmap of Cambodian military developments prior to July 24th.
2025-02-13. The immediate tensions seem to originate from an incident on February 13, when a group of Cambodian soldiers escorted civilians to visit an ancient temple. The group reportedly sang the Cambodian national anthem and was later stopped by Thai security officials.
2025-02-17. Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai expressed concern over the recent provocative incident involving Cambodian troops in Ta Muen Thom, stating that he does not want the incident to escalate into a conflict.
The craziest thing is that the LA protests are remarkably normal, dare I say pedestrian. Theres no significant or widespread destruction, barely any meaningful resistance to law enforcement.
It's so transparently obvious that the Trump admin wants to fabricate a crisis.
There is absolutely zero tactical or strategic need for any federal support to control what we've seen this weekend. Yet the admin has been able to completely dominate and distort the conversation with barely any pushback from the democratic establishment or even the media.
By the way, when I say 'barely any meaningful resistance' I don't mean no skirmishes, I mean that at NO point have the police not been able to quickly and effectively perform whatever crowd control action they deem necessary.
Which is absolutely credit to the protesters.
🧵Geolocations of ALL sites that the Indian Army has claimed to have hit in Pakistan and Kashmir. 1. Masjid Syedna Bilal/Hazrat Bilal
34.385846°N 73.456974°E
It appears to have been a direct hit, according to after-strike ground photos. google.com/maps/place/34%…
2. Reported training camp in Gulpur, Kotli
33.402328°N 73.876957°E
No post-strike imagery yet. google.com/maps/place/33%…
3. Masjid Ahl-e-Hadis in Barnala, Bhimber.
32.867802°N 74.256469°E
Quadcopter-dropped munition appear to miss the target building and strike a courtyard around 50m away. google.com/maps/place/32%…
There's a horrendous amount of violence happening over the past few days in Syria, and a tremendous amount of uncertainty in numbers, details & actors. Yet it's astounding just how few people (including mainstream journalists) are engaging with these incidents in any good faith.
So many people are visibly giddy at the idea that the new Syrian government is committing atrocities. And as a result, absolutely misrepresenting the violence that is occurring. It's pulling in the pro-SDF crowd (biji!biji!) the Assadist crowd (counter-revolution!), the pro-Israel crowd (only the IDF can protect minorities!), the idiot Westerners (Assad was the thin blue line!) and even mainstream journalism (finally some spice to report).
And as a result, its the most counter-productive information environment I've seen around Syria since the chemical attack information ops.
It's imperative we find the details of these atrocities, who is involved and hold them accountable. It's crucial this is prevented from becoming a wider sectarian conflict.
And it's wild that most reporting and commentary is acting as a barrier to this, not a help.