Verifying air strikes in active conflict zones like Tigray requires a multi-layered approach. Since governments often restrict physical access to strike sites, investigators cannot rely solely on official statements. Instead, they must turn to remote sensing technologies. High-resolution satellite imagery provides visual evidence of crater patterns, wreckage, and structural damage to specific buildings like schools or granaries.
On the ground, eyewitness testimony remains vital. While individual accounts can be biased, gathering consistent patterns from multiple unrelated survivors creates a stronger evidentiary base. Human rights monitors look for corroborating details, such as the specific sound of drone engines or the timing of strikes relative to known military movements. They also track digital footprints. Metadata from smartphone videos and photos shared on social media can help geolocate an event and establish a timeline.
Open-source intelligence (OSINT) analysts play a major role here. By analyzing flight tracking data and matching it with ground-level reports, they can map patterns of movement. Combining these technical datasets with forensic examination of physical debris—if access permits—helps determine whether munitions were intended for military or civilian targets. It is a slow, painstaking process of triangulation.
