Bellingcat explores the mysterious Hungarian company linked to the exploding pagers from Tuesday’s attack in Lebanon that left at least 12 dead and almost 3000 injured. Researchers found an unreported name associated with the consulting firm. bellingcat.com/news/2024/09/2… Tensions between Hezbollah and Israel continue to escalate. Earlier today, Israel carried out an airstrike in the south of Beirut. At least 12 people were killed and 66 injured according to the latest figures from Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

Today @globalfreemedia has called attention to an ongoing smear campaign run by pro-government Hungarian media outlets against our collaborative project The Eastern Frontier Initiative with our partners @444hu @PressOneRomania @gazeta_wyborcza @denniksme
ipi.media/hungary-new-sm… The project is aimed at connecting publishers from Central and Eastern Europe to strengthen fact-based public discourse about European defense and security. Our role at Bellingcat is to develop open source investigative capabilities in the region. ec.europa.eu/info/funding-t…

Grain exports from Russian-occupied Crimea are reaching new destinations. @bridget_diakun and @LloydsList report on a recent shipment that docked in Egypt despite warnings from the Ukrainian officials. lloydslist.com/LL1150528/Ship… The vessel that Lloyd’s List recorded as loading grain at the Port of Sevastopol in Crimea, which is also under western-sanction, was the Damas Wave (IMO:8915299). It was subsequently pictured as it passed through the Bosphorus Strait by @YorukIsik

https://x.com/yorukisik/status/1828164418649162150?t=Ysi8O7551jSYqtAi-_W4uw

The Bellingcat Team has geolocated footage recorded by the militant group that killed more than 100 people in Burkina Faso last week and reviewed satellite imagery showing the expansion of defensive trenches around the town, both before and after the attack. bellingcat.com/news/2024/09/0… The residents of Barsalogho - a town located about 120km north of the country’s capital, were attacked whilst digging defensive trenches, footage reviewed by Bellingcat shows they were unarmed when they were shot and killed.

In our latest guide, Bellingcat contributor @wammezz explains how to use open source earth observation tools to detect and monitor oil spills. bellingcat.com/resources/how-… Monitoring oil spills using satellite imagery can be crucial to prevent environmental disasters. Wim is currently using these methods to monitor the oil tanker that was targeted by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.

https://x.com/wammezz/status/1829158208453382408

New analysis by Bellingcat of a crowd control weapon being fired at a journalist covering protests in Kenya, suggests that police failed to follow their own policies, shooting without warning at close range towards journalists and civilians. bellingcat.com/news/2024/08/2… Journalist Catherine Wanjeri Kariuki is a broadcast reporter with Kameme TV and Mediamax. On July 16, she was standing with fellow journalists at an intersection in downtown Nakuru, a city in western Kenya, when she was shot - with three pellets entering her left thigh.

Latest: Bellingcat researcher @JakeGodin uses satellite imagery to demonstrate the scale of destruction currently occurring along the Rafah border in Gaza. We geolocated individuals' homes and conflict spots which have been a part of wide scale damage. bellingcat.com/news/2024/08/2… Bellingcat estimates that, between October 2023 and July, almost 8,500 buildings have been damaged or destroyed in the area stretching along Egypt from the Rafah border crossing to the coast.

The shadow in an image can be the key to narrowing down your geolocation. Bellingcat’s new Shadow Finder Tool helps by automating the process- searching the globe for matching shadow angles to provide clues about where an image was taken. bellingcat.com/resources/2024… The tool is similar to popular open source resource SunCalc, but searches multiple locations at once, providing a specific area to investigate. colab.research.google.com/github/Belling…

In this guide Bellingcat Tech Fellow @belisards shows you how you can use artificial intelligence models to speed up reviewing and categorising images that you’ve collected for research; demonstrating our new tool the Smart Image Sorter. bellingcat.com/resources/how-… The Smart Image Sorter is a free-to-access tool that uses zero-shot models, and requires no coding know-how. colab.research.google.com/github/belling…

Tell us where to point satellites to take high quality satellite imagery! 🛰️
Put the coordinates of the area of interest and why it is important for research purposes in the comments. We will select a few of your suggestions to publish with analysis by Bellingcat researchers... Photos from @planet and @umbraspace satellites usually cost a fee so this is a unique opportunity to get high resolution snapshots of an area of interest for free.

Protests against police violence led to the end of the 15 year rule of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh this week. In our latest the Bellingcat team geolocates videos just before the PM's fall, showing violent responses to the civil unrest. bellingcat.com/news/2024/08/0… More than 200 people, mostly students, were reportedly killed, making it the worst violence in the country since independence. Protests began in July with students demanding an end to the government job quota which restricted access to 30% of jobs, reserved for veteran relatives.

Violent riots by groups associated with far-right networks have erupted in the UK. Social media videos of groups setting fire to hotels, police vans and breaking into shops are everywhere. It’s important to archive this material so it doesn’t disappear. Here's how to do that… 🧵 The Bellingcat Auto Archiver tool is free-to-access and automatically archives any link added to a spreadsheet. It will save the content for you in a repository and also extract vital details like the time it was posted and what platform it was posted on. github.com/bellingcat/aut…

Identifying weapons is a skill that comes with high risk. Misidentification can add to false narratives, and in clearance efforts, even death. Bellingcat Tech Writing Fellow @Andro_Mathewson provides guidance on verifying explosive ordnance. bellingcat.com/resources/how-… Explosive Ordnance are weapons that can detonate without warning, killing or injuring civilians long after conflicts have ended.

US neo-Nazi Robert Rundo’s federal rioting and conspiracy charges have been reinstated by a US appeals court. This means that Rundo should finally be facing trial on these charges. He faces up to ten years in prison.

Bellingcat has been tracking Rundo’s movements for a while. Here’s a thread on our coverage of the co-founder of ‘Active Clubs’ and the Rise Above Movement (RAM) ...

A Russian vessel was granted clearance by a UN inspection body to call at a Houthi-controlled port in Yemen after surreptitiously exporting grain from occupied Crimea, an investigation by Bellingcat and @lloydslist finds. bellingcat.com/news/2024/07/1… The bulk carrier, Zafar, concealed its whereabouts in Crimea by switching off its Automated Identification System (AIS) before docking at Sevastopol in mid-May, but its presence there was captured on Planet satellite imagery.

The secretive far-right festival ‘White Boy Summer’ is back; an event experts warn is used to grow extremist networks. @colbornemichael and Bellingcat community member @niemisentee reveal the hidden location and nature of the event organised by neo-nazis…bellingcat.com/news/2024/07/1… Bellingcat first investigated Finland’s ‘White Boy Summer Fest’ (WBS) in 2023. With the help of @bellingcatgap and our Discord community, we geolocated both the 2023 and 2022 events to two separate rural campgrounds in the Kanta-Häme region. bellingcat.com/news/2023/08/3…

Latest: An analysis of open source evidence, as well as multiple missile experts, have pointed to a Russian launched Kh-101 cruise missile being the weapon that struck a children’s hospital in Kyiv bellingcat.com/news/2024/07/0… The July 8th attack on the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital has left three children dead and 16 injured according to the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU). More are thought to still be under the rubble.

In our latest documentary, Bellingcat and @scrippsnews used satellite imagery and open source videos and photos to identify dozens of cultural heritage and religious sites that have either been damaged or destroyed in Gaza. bellingcat.com/news/2024/06/2… The Israel Defense Forces told us there “is no doctrine that aims to cause maximal damage to civilian infrastructure regardless of military necessity,” However some sites examined by @scrippsnews and Bellingcat appear to have been targeted, including cemeteries and mosques.

Darfur’s largest city is at risk of falling to the Rapid Support Forces, leading experts to warn of the real risk of genocide. Bellingcat and our partners @beamreports have been examining the deteriorating situation over the past month... bellingcat.com/news/africa/20… Using open source footage and satellite imagery, Bellingcat researcher @Emythat analysed several areas within and surrounding Al Fashir that were impacted by recent clashes.

The military junta in Myanmar is losing control of large areas due to anti-coup resistance fighters and ethnic rebel groups. Bellingcat’s @pooja_Chaudhuri monitors the impact on civilians as the military reacts violently to its territorial losses. bellingcat.com/news/rest-of-w… The military’s response to losing ground has been characterised by increased attacks against civilians. “Over the last five months, there has been a five-fold increase in [military] airstrikes against civilians,” the UN reported in March.

Bellingcat’s @Pooja_Chaudhuri identified four Indian far-right media outlets that are receiving non-transparent foreign donations. Two sites could be linked to a US-based group associated with the RSS, the group that birthed far-right Hindu ideology. bellingcat.com/news/2024/05/2… India’s current government has increased the scrutiny of NGOs, journalists and human rights groups. This has led to the suspension of their licences under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) which permits organisations to receive funds from abroad.