This project seeks to address some of the most critical issues facing investigative journalists in Arabic speaking countries, more specifically those working on exposing human rights violations and state violence. We aim to achieve this goal by using the tools of spatial investigations, collaborating with different actors on the ground (civil society organizations, journalists and activists) and building on available information as an open source. This way we hope to unearth certain stories that might not be possible to cover them in the traditional ways and we mitigate the risk of such investigations as they allow access to diversified sources. The unit also aims at transmitting this knowledge to new actors (journalists, editors, filmmakers) in the independent media scene in the region.  The first phase of the project was published in February 2023. The unit examined the widely circulated theory that the fire that instigated the explosion in the Beirut port was the result of sloppy welding by maintenance workers. Our analysis deployed OSINT, fluid dynamics, and 3D modeling to study the very few minutes leading up to the blast. This process resulted in findings that challenged these claims reiterated in both the FBI and the Lebanese Internal Security reports, leaked to us by our partners at Mada Masr.

Link to the page.