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Title: US airstrike killed 'dozens' of Russian contractors in Syria [200+ dead Cossacks?]
Source:
HotAir
URL Source: https://hotair.com/archives/2018/02 ... strikes-killed-russians-syria/
Published: Feb 13, 2018
Author: John Sexton
Post Date: 2018-02-13 19:56:31 by Tooconservative
Keywords: None
Views: 2222
Comments: 45
The men were working for a private Russian company called Wagner, which has sent hundreds of private contractors to Syria to help both the Russian military and pro-regime forces, according to people who knew them. One of the dead was 51-year-old Vladimir Loginov. Like many contractors who have gone to Syria, he was a member of a Cossack group of ultranationalists who have also fought in eastern Ukraine. The exact number of Russians killed in the airstrike is unclear. Reuters reported yesterday that “dozens” had died, though that was unconfirmed. The New York Times also suggested dozens of Russians were killed in a report today: A Syrian military officer said that about 100 Syrian soldiers had been killed in the fighting on Feb. 7 and 8, but news about Russian casualties has dribbled out only slowly, through Russian news organizations and social media. However, Bloomberg is reporting today that more than 200 Russian contractors died in the strike: “This is a big scandal and a reason for an acute international crisis,” said Vladimir Frolov, a former Russian diplomat and lawmaker who’s now an independent political analyst. “But Russia will pretend nothing happened.” Fox News adds that a Reaper drone also destroyed a Russian made T-72 battle tank on Saturday in the same area, three days after the airstrike that killed the Russian contractors. As for why deconfliction efforts between the U.S. and Russia didn’t prevent this, Voice of America reports the U.S. was in contact with Russia before, during and after the airstrike but the Russians had no control over the contractors: He called the attack a “perplexing situation,” adding that he could not give “any explanation for why” the pro-government forces would attack a well-established SDF headquarters… When pressed on why the U.S. considered the communication a success when it did not prevent the pro-government force attack, Mattis told reporters on Thursday, “You can’t ask Russia to deconflict something they don’t control.” “The fact that somebody chose to attack us, and the Russians are saying, ‘’It’s not us,’ and we are firing on them to stop the artillery fire, that, to me, is not a failure of the deconfliction line,” Mattis explained. Putin has emphasized that no uniformed Russian soldiers were killed in the strike. Grigory Yavlinsky, a politician running for president in Russia, called on Putin to reveal exactly how many Russians were killed in Syria. “If there was large-scale loss of life of Russian citizens, the relevant officials, including the commander-in-chief of our armed forces (Putin), are obliged to tell the country about it and decide who carries responsibility for this,” he said. Poster Comment: Cossack mercs. U.S. airstrikes in Syria killed 100 pro-regime forces including an unknown number of Russian contractors who were fighting alongside them. The conflict started when a force of around 300-500 soldiers armed with Russian made tanks and artillery came across the Euphrates River and began firing on a Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) base. There were American advisers at the SDF base who called in an airstrike. From CNN: Several Russians who had been hired as paramilitary contractors were among more than 100 men killed in US airstrikes in northern Syria last week, according to their friends and families. Four Russian nationals, and perhaps dozens more, were killed in fighting between pro-government forces in eastern Syria and members of the United States-led coalition fighting the Islamic State, according to Russian and Syrian officials. More than 200 contract soldiers, mostly Russians fighting on behalf of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, died in a failed attack on a base held by U.S. and mainly Kurdish forces in the oil-rich Deir Ezzor region, two of the Russians said. The U.S. official put the death toll at about 100, with 200 to 300 injured… U.S. military officials said the coalition was in contact with Russia before, during and after Wednesday’s attack and had alerted Russia to the presence of SDF forces in that area…
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 35.
#7. To: All, redleghunter (#0)
I'd say no survivors. A Russian T-72 that was destroyed by our jets.
I'm sure the Russians were smart enough to put Arabs in the tanks. If that is the case they bailed out on the first site of contact. At least that has been my experience fighting Arab armies. Most of the tanks we destroyed in the Gulf War were empty. First round of M1A1 smoothe bore and hundreds stopped their tanks and jumped out. Unfortunately when they bailed out there were already artillery rounds in the air (time of flight can ruin a day). You can't call those back. Couldn't touch BBQ for months after that.
I saw a bit more reporting at RedState: They were met with pretty much everything but the kitchen sink: In yesterday’s article I speculated: If this incursion across an agreed upon deconfliction line had succeeded, then you would have seen more and more of this happening. Right now it is pretty clear that the Russians called the shots here and it is equally clear that they did not want a direct confrontation with the U.S.: The fact that the wounded from this adventure are now being treated in Russian military hospitals in Russia indicates they had some type of official imprimatur and were not a rogue operation. What to look for next? They’ll try something different to achieve the same goal. It could be kidnapping U.S. advisers or trying to recreate the Beirut Marine Barracks bombing using Iranian proxies. I could be guerrilla-style operations against supply lines for U.S. forces. It could be creating a situation where U.S. firepower creates friendly casualties, military and/or civilian. But they clearly understand that U.S. advisers are the Clausewitzian “center of gravity” for the anti-Assad forces and they will try to drive a wedge between us and them or drive us out. I'm wondering how they brought B-52s and AC-130s to bear so quickly if it was a surprise attack. And they wouldn't be treating Arabs in Russian military hospitals, if that reporting is correct. If they brought artillery, they intended to murder everyone at the target site. Except we killed them first. Good for us.
#36. To: All, redleghunter, VxH, A Pole (#35)
I went looking for more coverage on this battle, mostly hoping for some great artillery strikes or nice airstrikes. Alas. But I did notice something else. Former MSNBC host Ed Schultz is now a major mouthpiece on Russia's RT network! And he's been there, working for the Russians, since January 2016. Comrade Schultz is finally working openly for his Soviet masters. It must be a dream come true. Even if he makes only a tiny fraction of what he made working for PMSNBC. In case you're forgotten who he is: I notice that YouTube is now putting a small notice below each RT video: I know, how shocking to learn that RT is funded by the Russian government. Who could have guessed?!! Next thing you know, someone might accuse PBS of being funded by the American government. Anyway, stumbling over poor Ed's corpse still broadcasting at RT fulfilled my Rest-Of-The-Story fetish so I had to share...
The B-52s have been converted for Close Air Support (CAS) roles. We did this in 2007 timeframe in Afghanistan. Loads of loiter time over a target area and loads of bombs. I would gather the B-52 was on station at the time. Once the advisors knew what was coming they probably called for the air and/or ground alert birds. When someone said tanks I'm sure more aircraft were called to sortie in 30-60 min intervals. The AC-130 is interesting. They are owned by Special Operations Command. The advisor team was probably SF and the JTAC SF too. So it's not odd for them to use the Spooky but odd to use it during the day. Unless night fall happened when the Spooky came in. But in dire straits they do. They did in a situation we had in Iraq in early 2007.
Yes this was an @ss whooping. Don't mess with US Joint Firepower.
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#9. To: Tooconservative (#7)
I'd say no survivors. A Russian T-72 that was destroyed by our jets.
#35. To: redleghunter, VxH, A Pole (#9)
. . . On the ground, Air Force joint terminal attack controllers embedded with the SDF called in precision strikes for more than three hours from aircraft and ground artillery, directing F-15Es, MQ-9s, B-52s, AC-130s and AH-64 Apaches to release multiple precision fire munitions and conduct strafing runs against the advancing aggressor force, stopping their advance and destroying multiple artillery pieces and tanks. My guess is that this was an operation designed to grab a U.S. held base as a way of showing our proxies they couldn’t rely on us. The use of Russians was probably intentional and a way of daring us to use US firepower. In fact, the operation was probably based on the premise that we would allow the Russians to go head-to-head with the SDF and without interference. Two Trump administration officials said the U.S used a military hotline to communicate with the Russian side to warn that it was about to launch air strikes. The Russians later called their U.S. counterparts to ask if the strikes had ended so that the attacking force could recover the dead and wounded, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Replies to Comment # 35. RT is funded in whole or in part by the Russian government.
#38. To: Tooconservative (#35)
I'm wondering how they brought B-52s and AC-130s to bear so quickly if it was a surprise attack.
#39. To: Tooconservative (#35)
Except we killed them first. Good for us.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 35.
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