U.S. Military Personnel in the Middle East Reveal Their Locations Through Strava

U.S. service members were publicly revealing their locations at U.S. military bases in the Middle East through the fitness app Strava, Stars and Stripes reports.

The news source uncovered dozens of such cases in several countries in the region. Soldiers recorded their training sessions, and the app automatically saved their routes and coordinates.

Based on the published data, it is possible to determine exactly where the military is training, which routes they are taking, and at what times. Some users have also posted photos of military facilities.

Certain routes were repeated regularly, so they could be used to identify daily habits and the approximate number of people in specific locations.

This is happening despite the fact that U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) imposed strict restrictions on the use of geolocation by military personnel back in 2018.

Military personnel have been ordered to disable unnecessary geolocation features, check their privacy settings, and limit sharing information about their location.

Of particular concern is that open-source data could help the enemy determine the location of military personnel and the specifics of their daily routines. For example, at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, a user posted a training exercise on July 16—one day before the Iranian attack on the base, during which three American service members were killed.

Previously, Sky News identified more than 1,300 Strava users who had posted thousands of workouts from U.S. military bases in the Middle East.

In addition to U.S. military personnel, the Strava app has repeatedly revealed the locations of French servicemen.

Miltarnyi reported that in January 2025, French submariners accidentally disclosed information about the patrols of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) via the Strava app.

Thanks to the data that sailors openly posted on the app, users were able to learn about the operations of the base on Île Longue, located in the western part of the country, and the submarines’ duty schedule.