Secret app alerts Syrian civilians to warplanes
When a Syrian warplane gathers speed along the runway, seconds from takeoff and minutes from action, a covert race to save civilian life begins.
It starts in nearby Syrian hills with a single flight spotter and his cellphone. Moments later, details of the flight are beamed to a server abroad, analysed to identify targets and then converted into warnings that are blasted back into the country via social media. Across rebel strongholds, rescue workers pull on their boots as surrounding hospitals brace for casualties.
“Everyone is holding their breath,” said Abu Zeid, a plane spotter. “It’s a wait that feels like hell.”
As rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad’s Government have fought on the ground, Syrian and more recently Russian jets have pounded opposition territory from above, shattering neighbourhoods and killing or maiming many people.
That carnage has forced innovation. Civilians, at first, used walkie talkies to warn of warplanes. Fledgling rescue teams developed ever more sophisticated ways to liberate families from the rubble. In hospitals, doctors developed work-arounds for when lights go out and drugs run dry. And then in 2016, a team of computer developers found a way to link all those efforts. The result is Hala Systems — known to many Syrians as the Sentry system — an organisation that can win crucial minutes for residents to find safety when warplanes are thundering towards them.
American entrepreneur Dave Levin founded the operation with former US diplomat John Jaeger and a Syrian computer coder. It is financed by Western governments and the donations of friends and family.
Teachers, engineers and even farmers became plane spotters, some living near Russian or Syrian air bases, others in the heart of opposition-held territory.
Equipped with a simple smartphone app, these volunteers watch the skies on eight-hour shifts and, when an aircraft appears, share information about its location, direction and, if possible, type.
That information is refined with complementary data from remote sensors. Hidden atop trees and tall buildings, these collect acoustic data that can be used to determine speeds and aircraft models. Seconds later, Hala’s software compares the new information with that from previous episodes, calculates the chances of an airstrike and arrives at predictions for the aircraft’s likely targets, as well as when an attack might occur.
The projections are immediately broadcast over social media channels, and a network of alerts is triggered. When warplanes approach, sirens wail in the street and parents scoop up their children as they run for basements. In hospitals, flashing lights warn doctors that their doors could burst open with casualties.
A preliminary analysis commissioned by Hala suggests that the technology has helped save hundreds of lives and prevent thousands of injuries.
“The violence has been relentless, but you can’t imagine the feeling when these warnings save lives,” said Abdul Razzak, an observer in the opposition-held northern town of Maarat al-Numan. “It’s so big you feel like you’re bursting.”