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Jan 17 • 14 tweets • 8 min read
The emergence of Morocco as a #drone power. With a range of airstrikes against suspected Polisario militants in occupied Western-Sahara, it is suspected that quite a few are carried out by armed #drones. A small thread with some new satellite imagery showing these drones🧵 1/X
Morocco has been operating Israeli Harfang #drones from the Dakhla airbase in occupied Western Sahara, that are visible on Google Earth imagery in 2021 as shown by @obretix It is unclear if these drones have been armed 2/x
The involvement of armed #drones in airstrikes became more clear after social and traditional media reports on increased military activity against the Polisario armed group in Western Sahara by the Moroccan army 3/x
thedefensepost.com/2021/04/12/mor…
Excellent investigative work conducted by @LOActualControl on imagery found at the location of one of strikes indicated the presence of Chinese Blue Arrow missiles, used on the Wing Loong drones 4/x
actualcontrol.substack.com/p/moroccos-mis…
The first Chinese-origin drone, allegedly bought from the United Arab Emeriates, the Wing Loong was spotted in southern Morocco in December 2022, though unclear where exactly 5/x
The Laayoune airbase has been frequently mentioned a possible host, and recent, public imagery from Google Earth indicated the presence of satellite control equipment and Ground Control Stations, appearing per May 2022 6/x
Using @planet Sky Very High-Resolution imagery, we started looking at this base can now also see, what likely is a extended wing-span version of the Wing Loong I at the airbase in July 2022, that also hosts F-16s and F-5s. 7/x
Recently it was announced that Morocco is likely buying also Wing Loong II armed drones, expanding its drone fleet with numerous systems 8/x military.africa/2022/10/morocc…
Interesting, as Moroccan Air Force also recently operated the Turkish origin Bayraktar TB-2 armed #drones, part of delivery of 13 TB-2 to the Kingdom, which can be seen on Google Earth Pro imagery at the Ben Guerir airbase in Morocco 9/x
oryxspioenkop.com/2021/11/morocc…
Despite news reports in 2020 that Morocco would buy US-origin MQ-9b SeaGuardians, there has not been any confirmation that those have been actually exported, which could explain to move to buy the Chinese WL-II in 2022 10/x timesofisrael.com/morocco-said-s…
Morocco did announce a deal with the Israeli Aerospace Industry (IAI) to buy smaller 150 BlueBird Verticlal Take-off Landing drones, also to be used for military purposes, and rumors that it had bought Harop suicide drones, but yet to be confirmed 11/x overtdefense.com/2022/10/10/mor…
For a helpful oversight of Morocco's armed drones use, see also @federicoborsar1 excellent article for @ispionline on this from 2021. Morocco has not clarified its legal position on the use of drones for extrajudicial killings 12/END
ispionline.it/en/pubblicazio…
NB: Some excellent geolocation work by @il_kanguru showing also likely TB-2 drones flying from Laayoune
And geolocation by @il_kanguru of a Wing Loong at Samara airbase in Western Sahara, where a new hangar was constructed in 2021.
Left is June 2022, Right July 2021

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More from @wammezz

Wim Zwijnenburg Profile picture
Dec 22, 2022
📢Russia's targeting of energy infrastructure in #Ukraine is displacing millions of people, while also worsening conflict-pollution. Today we launch a new Environment & Conflict Alert, with support of @UNEP and @Cen4infoRes. A small 🧵1/x

paxforpeace.nl/what-we-do/pub…
Over the course of the last 10 months, we noted 213 reported incidents of strikes against thermal, hydro, nuclear and solar energy facilities in #Ukraine. We could verify 63 of those incidents with satellite images that observed damage to these facilities. 2/X
Throughout the country strikes against, and occupation of power plants severely impacted the lives and livelihoods of Ukrainian civilians, while also posing serious risks to their #environment from a range of pollutants or services depending on energy supplies. 3/x
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Aug 16, 2022
The cumulative effects of #ClimateEmergency in #Iraq are clearly visible through open-source earth observation tools. A short thread on how drought creates a mix of smoke from burning marshes and dust storms moving over the country 1/ Image
As we shared earlier this week, the lack of water coming into the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that lead to the south is resulting in the drying of Iraq's Marshes, home to the Marsh Arabs and with a unique ecosystem, threatening the lives and livelihoods of its population 2/x Image
This year also witnessed the same patern of decline in precipitation in #Iraq, as documented by humanitarian agencies such as @REACH_info. This is impating access to clear water for households and agriculture use throughout the country 3/x
reliefweb.int/report/iraq/ir… Image
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Wim Zwijnenburg Profile picture
Aug 8, 2022
More Russian military equipment is being set-up at the #Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar, a new drone video shows. Here's small thread with geo-locations and recent @planet high-resolution satellite imagery showing new military positions and strike impacts🧵1/x
After entering the gate through the administrative building of the NPP, as seen on the first image , we see military truck here moving near the first of the 6 nuclear reactors. 2/x google.com/maps/place/Pro…
We can also see an MT-LB, a tracked armored fighting vehicle moving into the first nuclear reactor at the power plant, and military truck also moving to the entrance of the same reactor. h/t @Rebel44CZ / @CalibreObscura 3/x
Read 9 tweets
Wim Zwijnenburg Profile picture
Jul 28, 2022
A new video posted by @rudaw reveals new information on a possible weapon and firing location that killed nine Iraqi tourists in a tourist resort, north of Zakho, Iraqi Kurdistan. A small #OSINT thread with some findings 🧵1/
rudaw.net/english/kurdis…
First, one of the shots shows a wide-area view of this area where in the last years new Turkish/KRG military bases were set-up in the fight against the PKK, also featured in @SimonaFoltyn excellent piece for @NewsHour pbs.org/newshour/show/… h/t @obretix 2/ for geolocation
Then a first time image of a munition remnant, showing the fin of a mortar, identified by @CalibreObscura as a possible Turkish MKE MOD 214 81mm mortar. More images are needed to be sure. But was it there already or recently fired? That's unclear 3/x
urunler.mke.gov.tr/Urunler/81-mm-…
Read 14 tweets
Wim Zwijnenburg Profile picture
Nov 18, 2021
Enter the dragon: Chinese armed #drones now confirmed on @Airbus satellite imagery flying from #Ethiopia's Harar Meda airbase and new @planet satellite imagery showed increase activity with Iranian drones at Semera. Here's our @PAXforpeace analysis 1/x

paxforpeace.nl/news/blogs/eth…
With reports of Chinese drones being involved in the #Tigray war, initial rumors of Wing Loongs II operated by the #UAE and flying from Eritrea could not confirmed to be involved in strikes in Ethiopia, as demonstrated in this @bellingcat article 2/x
bellingcat.com/news/rest-of-w…
We learned this summer that #Iran has exported armed #drones to Ethiopia, flying from Semera air base, as showed in social media images and satellite imagery, again documented by @bellingcat 3/x bellingcat.com/news/rest-of-w…
Read 10 tweets
Wim Zwijnenburg Profile picture
Jul 20, 2021
A quick update on the oil spill at #Aden in the south of #Yemen. Today's satellite imagery by @planet shows the ongoing oil on the surface while the salvage operation of the sunken oil vessel is ongoing. Image
#PT And here's radar image of the port of #Aden using @sentinel_hub Sentinel-1 SAR with an Oil Slick Custom script and Planet to show the spill. Note the image shows both water surface roughness and the spill itself, so it's not all oil in yellow.. Image
The Port of Aden has seen it's share of oil spills form ships, as can be seen on historic imagery via Google Earth Image
Read 4 tweets

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