Latest news with #satelliteimages
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Investigation uncovers RSF military base hidden in Libyan desert
A research centre specialising in digital and open sources has tracked the movements of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) using satellite images, online videos and photos. The investigation confirms the group has a base in the Libyan desert, near the town of al-Kufra. The Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) said the location is likely being used as a rear base for RSF operations in Sudan's Darfur region. The study, titled How we found an RSF military camp in the Libyan desert, shows that vehicles spotted in the Libyan camp later appeared in the Zamzam displacement camp, where the RSF carried out an attack in April. At least 100 people were killed in the assault, including more than 20 children and at least nine aid workers, said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN's resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan. "Attacks on civilians, on humanitarian workers, and on civilian infrastructure are grave violations of international humanitarian law," she said. "Such acts are abhorrent and inexcusable." CIR said it also identified a direct link between the Libyan site and a senior RSF commander who was later seen in Zamzam, the country's largest displacement camp, home to nearly one million people uprooted by the war. 'Convoys equipped with weapons' The investigation shows large convoys of Toyota Land Cruisers fitted with weapons, filmed at different times in the desert. The same vehicles, parked in a rocky area in southern Libya, were later seen in Zamzam. CIR said the Zamzam camp is now being used as a base by Colombian mercenaries and other foreign fighters involved in RSF offensives against El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. The city has been surrounded by the RSF for 18 months. The findings emerged as a court in Port Sudan charged RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, two of his brothers and 13 others in absentia with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The charges relate to an April 2023 attack on El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur. One of the accused, Abd al-Rahman Jumaa, is charged with leading the attack on El Geneina, overseeing the killing of West Darfur governor Khamis Abdullah Abkar in June 2023, and carrying out acts of genocide against thousands of Masalit people, including burying some alive. According to the special court for combating terrorism and crimes against the state, the other defendants instigated the attack and committed rape, torture and looting. 'Presence of top RSF generals' The CIR investigation also establishes the presence of General Hamdane al-Kajli, head of security for Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF's second-in-command. He is seen on several occasions, notably in a vehicle spotted in Zamzam in April. Researchers say al-Kajli was seriously wounded near El Fasher in early April while travelling in an armoured vehicle. He was evacuated to the Turkish hospital in Nyala, South Darfur, where RSF casualties are treated. Other men directly responsible for Dagalo's security were killed, say the CIR investigators. Some of the videos show RSF camouflage uniforms and shoulder patches. The vehicles, which do not carry number plates, have matching features – same model, same weapons, same water containers. Spray-painted numbers on bonnets and doors were used to help track the vehicles across locations. According to the CIR investigation, RSF military equipment is being transported on a large scale through Libya. The revelations support the findings of UN experts, who highlighted violations of the arms embargo in 2024, citing a supply route from Abu Dhabi to Darfur via Chad and also via Libya. Last April, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hit out at the continued flow of weapons and fighters into Sudan and called for an end to all external support. In June, the RSF seized land in north-western Sudan along the border with Libya and Egypt. The group now uses the area to bring in supplies from Libya without interference.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Investigation uncovers RSF military base hidden in Libyan desert
A research centre specialising in digital and open sources has tracked the movements of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) using satellite images, online videos and photos. The investigation confirms the group has a base in the Libyan desert, near the town of al-Kufra. The Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) said the location is likely being used as a rear base for RSF operations in Sudan's Darfur region. The study, titled How we found an RSF military camp in the Libyan desert, shows that vehicles spotted in the Libyan camp later appeared in the Zamzam displacement camp, where the RSF carried out an attack in April. At least 100 people were killed in the assault, including more than 20 children and at least nine aid workers, said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the UN's resident and humanitarian coordinator in Sudan. "Attacks on civilians, on humanitarian workers, and on civilian infrastructure are grave violations of international humanitarian law," she said. "Such acts are abhorrent and inexcusable." CIR said it also identified a direct link between the Libyan site and a senior RSF commander who was later seen in Zamzam, the country's largest displacement camp, home to nearly one million people uprooted by the war. 'Convoys equipped with weapons' The investigation shows large convoys of Toyota Land Cruisers fitted with weapons, filmed at different times in the desert. The same vehicles, parked in a rocky area in southern Libya, were later seen in Zamzam. CIR said the Zamzam camp is now being used as a base by Colombian mercenaries and other foreign fighters involved in RSF offensives against El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. The city has been surrounded by the RSF for 18 months. The findings emerged as a court in Port Sudan charged RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, two of his brothers and 13 others in absentia with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The charges relate to an April 2023 attack on El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur. One of the accused, Abd al-Rahman Jumaa, is charged with leading the attack on El Geneina, overseeing the killing of West Darfur governor Khamis Abdullah Abkar in June 2023, and carrying out acts of genocide against thousands of Masalit people, including burying some alive. According to the special court for combating terrorism and crimes against the state, the other defendants instigated the attack and committed rape, torture and looting. 'Presence of top RSF generals' The CIR investigation also establishes the presence of General Hamdane al-Kajli, head of security for Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF's second-in-command. He is seen on several occasions, notably in a vehicle spotted in Zamzam in April. Researchers say al-Kajli was seriously wounded near El Fasher in early April while travelling in an armoured vehicle. He was evacuated to the Turkish hospital in Nyala, South Darfur, where RSF casualties are treated. Other men directly responsible for Dagalo's security were killed, say the CIR investigators. Some of the videos show RSF camouflage uniforms and shoulder patches. The vehicles, which do not carry number plates, have matching features – same model, same weapons, same water containers. Spray-painted numbers on bonnets and doors were used to help track the vehicles across locations. According to the CIR investigation, RSF military equipment is being transported on a large scale through Libya. The revelations support the findings of UN experts, who highlighted violations of the arms embargo in 2024, citing a supply route from Abu Dhabi to Darfur via Chad and also via Libya. Last April, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres hit out at the continued flow of weapons and fighters into Sudan and called for an end to all external support. In June, the RSF seized land in north-western Sudan along the border with Libya and Egypt. The group now uses the area to bring in supplies from Libya without interference.
CBC
05-08-2025
- General
- CBC
Powerful mudslide in India leaves homes buried
A video distributed by the Indian Army and verified by Reuters journalists, who checked the footage against satellite images, shows devastated homes, buried buildings and mud still flowing through a village in the northern Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.
The Independent
01-08-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Satellite images reveal alarming scale of China's military build-up in disputed waters
China is bolstering its presence in the South China Sea with a 3,200 hectare network of military bases, including some capable of launching nuclear bombers, according to new satellite images. The latest satellite images of Mischief Reef by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), which tracks maritime security issues in Asia, show sprawling runways, missile shelters, large aircraft hangars amid several high-level military infrastructure resembling a well-defined city. 'They include harbours, large runways, more than 72 fighter jet hangars across the three big island bases, surface-to-air missile and anti-ship cruise missile emplacements, and a lot of radar, sensing and communications infrastructure,' Gregory Poling, director of the AMTI, told ABC. China is now in control of 20 outposts in the Paracel Islands and seven in the Spratly Islands, according to the AMTI. Out of these, four have been turned into fully operational naval and air bases. China also controls Scarborough Shoal, which it seized in 2012, via a constant coast guard presence but it has not built any facilities on the disputed feature. China claims sovereignty over nearly all the South China Sea, including areas claimed by Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. A 2016 ruling by an international arbitral tribunal found Beijing 's sweeping claims had no basis under international law, a decision that was rejected by Beijing. Beijing maintains its military expansion in the region is defensive, arranged to protect what it says are its sovereign rights amid opposition from Asian countries that have their own claims. Mr Polling said these bases are the 'result of the quickest example of mass dredging and landfill in human history'. In May this year, China landed two of its most advanced bombers in the disputed Paracel islands in the South China Sea, as seen in satellite imagery. The images reportedly showed long-range H-6 bombers on Woody Island in the Paracel islands, marking the first time China's most advanced bombers were seen since 2020 and a signal of Beijing's growing military capabilities. "China's long-range bombers don't need to be on the Paracels so it does appear to be omni-directional signalling by Beijing against the Philippines and against the US and other things that are going on," said Collin Koh, a defence scholar at Singapore's S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. The H-6 bombers are seen as a potential threat to US bases in the region and were also seen deployed in the war games around Taiwan last October. They flew close to the US mainland in July last year for the first time. China's Southern Theatre Command, which covers the South China Sea, maintains two regiments of the bombers, according to the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies. The bombers are generally kept at heavily fortified bases on the Chinese mainland, where they would have more protection in a conflict from US attacks in conflict scenarios.
Zawya
23-07-2025
- Science
- Zawya
SDTPS provides high resolution satellite images of Sharjah
SHARJAH - The Sharjah Department of Town Planning and Survey (SDTPS) has announced the availability of new, high-resolution satellite images of the Emirate of Sharjah, as part of its vision to enhance urban planning quality and update geographic databases. The images, accurate up to 15 centimetres, were made available through the collaboration with the Federal Geographic Information Centre. Eng. Hamad Juma Al Shamsi, Member of the Executive Council and Chairman of SDTPS, stated that these high-resolution satellite images are essential tools for collecting spatial information and updating metadata related to geographic plans. It also aligns with Sharjah Government's vision of supporting digital transformation and fostering smart, sustainable cities.
