iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

This is just an overview of a specific corner of the larger effort, which pieces together the different effects of this damage. Find the full investigation below. Appreciative to work on this w/ @rayajalabi.ft.com, @samjoiner.bsky.social et. al. + @lighthousereports.com team

010

In some of the worst-hit villages, destruction started at the village centre and radiates outward over weeks We cross-referenced these observations by conducting manual annotation of changes on s2 + high res imagery on building polygons in certain villages (see attached)

101

Most of the building damage we detected came after the April 16 ceasefire, meaning clearance of towns that were already under Israeli control.

100

Extending out across months, this was valuable as an indicator for research and inquiry. For publication, we mapped dominant change patterns across a 250m hexagonal grid, with respect to whether dominant change was observed before/after the April ceasefire

100

We split the timeline into two-week (cloud filtered) steps and compared each to the last (flagged w/ absolute decrease of 0.20 in saturation index), so we could see WHERE changed happened but also WHEN Then we filtered the analysis to built-up areas and sieved out isolated flags

100

In false-color imagery, intact villages read as a mix of more saturated colors (vegetation, rooftops, mixed surfaces) When demolished to rubble, that color collapses toward flat grey. We built a pipeline to measure that collapse, computed straight from the satellite bands

100

Sentinel-2 captures served as the base for temporal analysis, processed with a script in Google Earth Engine allowing us to track change across months and dozens of villages in single sweeps. We focused on quantifying the visible shifts that explosive destruction produces

100

mía @lumaruna.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

New collaborative investigation from @lighthousereports.com + @financialtimes.com : we mapped how Israel has demolished village after village across southern Lebanon - much of it after a ceasefire. A thread on the remote sensing damage analysis workflow we built to measure it 🧵

174

Reposted by Jack Sapoch

„Es kursieren in diesem Zusammenhang sehr viele gefälschte Videos und Falschmeldungen. … es braucht sicherlich mehr Sorgfalt im Umgang mit Videos wie denen der IDF, die gezielt für die weitere Verwertung durch andere Medien produziert werden.“ @jacksapoch.bsky.social im Interview

magazin.zenith.me

»Dieses Dorf existiert gar nicht«

Israel veröffentlicht über 70 3D-animierte Propagandaclips, die Angriffe auf zivile Infrastruktur in Gaza und dem Libanon rechtfertigen sollen. Die Ergebnisse eines internationalen Rechercheteams bele...

097

Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Aydın Çıldır Airport is a major hub for these flights, which houses units from the Turkish Gendarmerie + Coast Guard. Both operate TB2s for maritime/border security (as does the Navy, from Çanakkale) x.com/AydinValilig... www.iha.com.tr/istanbul-hab...

0142

Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

*The data is wrangled from adsb.lol via @obtusatum.bsky.social / @bellingcat.com's Turnstone tool, then processed and visualized in Kepler.gl and finished in Davinci Resolve bsky.app/profile/bell...

1235

Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

A time-series viz of all publicly recorded* Bayraktar TB2 flights over western Turkey since late 2023 The tracks show how extensive/persistent these circular patterned surveillance flights are along the Aegean coast + Evros land border

3227

Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

From our recent @lighthousereports.com / Al Jazeera Fault Lines documentary on the El Fasher siege The animation here is based on 100s of sat images from Apr - Oct 2025. Via cross-comparison, I mapped the berm’s construction in QGIS, then imported into Blender + animated w/ a custom script

132

Reposted by Jack Sapoch

Jake Godin @godin.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Destruction in southern Lebanon continues, including outside the Yellow Line. Just recently a solar-powered water well was destroyed in Deir Mimas, a Christian village north of the mostly-destroyed town of Kfar Kela. This also damaged a housing complex. News link: nna-leb.gov.lb/ar/news/5185...

An annotated satellite image showing buildings south of Deir Mimas, a Christian town in southern Lebanon, at the coordinates of 33.297059, 35.547903. Two inset images show a solar-powered water well in 2023 and the destroyed water well and damaged housing complex nearby in 2026.

14138

Anyways, this observation originally came onto my radar while playing around with @bendobrown.bsky.social's great Darklight Viewer tool in GEE, which makes it easy to explore changes nighttime satellite data. Worth checking out! gee-night-lights-474517.projects.earthengine.app/view/darklig...

021

Beyond the physical construction of the wall, artificial lighting is also part of the project’s environmental footprint. @biologicaldiversity.org in particular has published past work on these risks: www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/bo...

121

Trump is blowing up national-park land in Arizona to wall off one of the border’s last wild places.

The area has been the focus of renewed wall construction, including secondary “Smart Wall” barriers in the San Rafael Valley. This beautiful piece from @theatlantic.com covers the dynamics of border wall construction in the area quite well: www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

theatlantic.com

The ‘Big Black Scar’

110

The nighttime radiance appears along the border corridor near the San Rafael Valley and Coronado National Forest, where recent wall construction has been reported. In several places, the lights appear to align with material staging and transfer areas supporting the work.

100

Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Recent border wall construction in southern Arizona is visible not only in daytime satellite imagery, but also at night I made this timelapse w/ NASA Black Marble nighttime lights data, showing light signatures along the border next to Coronado National Forest b/w Jan + Mar 2026

153

In a TikTok video published by the IDF in July following the last round of strikes on Iran, members of the so-called "After Effects" cell within the IDF Spokesperson's Unit Post Production wing soldiers describe working weeks prior to strikes under “prime-minister-level secrecy” to prepare visuals

120

Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

The animation centers on a few buildings (implied targets) displayed as point geometry evocative of LiDAR data The extent to which this is a generated effect meant to convey precision vs data derived geometry is unclear Past work on these IDF animations suggests the former bsky.app/profile/jack...

A screenshot of showing a point cloud effect on certain buildings in the IDF animation

120

Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Amidst strikes on Iran by the US and Israel today, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit released a pre-made 3D animation of strike targets in Kermanshah, Iran

152

Adam Sawyer @adamjst.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Thanks for the kind words Adam! Truly was a group effort

010

Reposted by Jack Sapoch

This is an amazing analysis that integrates multiple sources of data to show ICE enforcement intensification in Nashville. Must read.

1106

How We Unpacked Tennessee’s Cooperation with ICE

This investigation was a collaboration with @motherjones.com, @nashvillebanner.bsky.social, News Channel 5, Nashville Noticias, and the Institute for Public Service Reporting - Memphis You can find links to stories here + our methodology write-up: www.lighthousereports.com/methodology/...

lighthousereports.com

Combining bodycam footage, police reports, and more than a million ICE records, this is how we investigated Tennessee Highway Patrol's collaboration with ICE

01810

By linking federal detention data to traffic stops, we followed people from roadside encounters through ICE custody and onto deportation flights. We found 75% of those detained had no criminal record.

1102

How ICE, THP targeted Nashville immigrants, inflated safety claims - Nashville Banner

Footage also captured officers physically marked detainees with Sharpies to track who made the arrest as teams of law enforcement apparently competed to detain the most people nashvillebanner.com/2026/02/19/i...

nashvillebanner.com

Analysis shows Tennessee state troopers and ICE agents profiled and disparaged immigrants during Nashville enforcement operation in May 2025.

1111

We also reviewed 50+ hours of dashcam and bodycam footage, showing how troopers used minor traffic pretexts so ICE could intervene, often bypassing basic protections. Recordings captures agents joking and celebrating arrests

16830

Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Last May, Tennessee Highway Patrol joined ICE on the streets of Nashville. We @lighthousereports.com + partners mapped the traffic stops and used 1M+ ICE records, dashcam video, and court files to show how supposed routine encounters became deportations.

28647

I’m in Kuala Lumpur this week for the Global Investigative Journalism Conference #GIJC2025 If you’re attending and want to connect / talk about visual investigations, remote sensing, open-source methods, etc. definitely reach out!

030

Reposted by Jack Sapoch

Gabriel Geiger @gabrielgeiger.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

On a Saturday night I stumbled across something on the internet that made me feel like ****** my pants. A giant dataset of real surveillance operations targeting 1000s of people across nearly every country. Unraveling it and the mysterious company behind it has consumed 1.5 years of my life

726996

Jack Sapoch @jacksapoch.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

Totally, the similarities there is something we discussed early on while looking into this topic. Super interesting to consider. Although in that case the illustration was from the Times of London, iirc

000

Reposted by Jack Sapoch

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Have you seen 3D animations from the IDF showing secret Hamas hideouts? According to Israel's +972 magazine, many have "serious spatial inaccuracies or prefabricated assets—sourced not from classified intelligence but rather from commercial libraries, content creators, and cultural institutions."

972mag.com

How a Scottish maritime museum ended up in Israel’s 3D propaganda

An analysis of dozens of Israeli army animations discovered digital assets sourced not from classified intelligence but commercial libraries and content creators.

8322131

Ron Deibert @rondeibert.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Definitely, this is something we also discussed parallels with early on

000

Reposted by Jack Sapoch

Last week we @citizenlab.ca published an investigation into a likely Israeli-directed AI influence op targeting Iranians citizenlab.ca/2025/10/ai-e... This superb analysis by @jacksapoch.bsky.social & colleagues of 43 official IDF videos found recycled 3D animations and spatial inaccuracies 👇

01812

Reposted by Jack Sapoch

Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Disinformation, now in 3D.

5296109

Thanks for the kind words Thomas 🌱

010

How a Scottish maritime museum ended up in Israel’s 3D propaganda

As someone who works with satellite and 3D imagery, this project reinforced how crucial it is to question what’s rendered as truth. Keep an eye out for some follow ups in different mediums looking ahead Full story w/ @972mag.com via Oren Ziv: www.972mag.com/israeli-army...

972mag.com

An analysis of dozens of Israeli army animations discovered digital assets sourced not from classified intelligence but commercial libraries and content creators.

11350119

I started working on this research in my spare time with a small group of fellow journos/artists — Nicole Vögele, @jakecharlesrees.bsky.social , & Robin Kötzle — after noticing recurring patterns in IDF 3D videos last year The Ferret (via @billybriggs24.bsky.social): theferret.scot/idf-scottish...

132447

The TikTok outlines that a specific goal of these animations is to multiply their reach by cultivating secondary coverage And indeed, dozens of major outlets like BBC, CNN and Sky News have aired them, in part or in full, often without context

3439105

These videos are produced in-house by a small animation cell in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, working mainly in After Effects + Blender In a TikTok posted after Israel's June attacks on Iran, soldiers describe working weeks under “prime-minister-level secrecy” to prepare visuals

433159

One of the earlier and most-viewed examples was an animation of Al Shifa Hospital, published in October 2023. The “underground command room” was recycled from a 2022 IDF animation of an UNRWA school in Tel Al-Hawa; the street above was built from prefab @kb-3d.bsky.social storefronts

2426100