Special Forces Troopers Reveal First Particulars of Battle with Russian Mercenaries in Syria

Explosions flashed within the fog hanging over the Euphrates River like a coming summer time storm.

The continual thunder of Russian weapons pounded the American positions in a burned-out pure gasoline refinery in japanese Syria. Tracers crisscrossed the Syrian sky. The Special Forces troopers felt the rumble of the explosions via the armored cabins of their vehicles.

Overhead, America’s most deadly plane — F-15E strike fighters, AH-64 Apache assault helicopters, and MQ-9 Reapers — pounded the Russian weapons and enemy formations under.

The Special Forces staff had been in fight in opposition to ISIS fighters for months, however this was completely different. ISIS, for essentially the most half, was a number of mortar rounds or spray-and-pray potshots from an AK-47. This was a educated Russian power with artillery and armored autos.

This was a good battle, and the U.S. troops have been driving into it.

“It appeared like New York Metropolis on New Yr’s Eve,” Chauncey, a former Special Forces staff sergeant who helped lead a fast response power (QRF) to the refinery, tells The Warfare Horse. “By far, essentially the most chaotic battle scene that I’ve ever noticed, not to mention be part of.”

The troopers’ final names have been withheld to guard their identities.

In February 2018, the American Special Forces staff deployed to Syria as a part of the continued marketing campaign in opposition to ISIS that started in 2015. However after months of profitable operations in opposition to ISIS, the staff now confronted a brand new adversary. Round 500 pro-Syrian authorities forces, together with Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group, launched an almost four-hour assault on a small group of 40 American Particular Operations troops and their Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) allies at a Conoco pure gasoline refinery in japanese Syria. Among the many largest within the space, it had a number of buildings that offered good cowl. It provided the Russians a foothold on the east aspect of the river.

The Wagner Group seized oil and gasoline fields in Syria to guard them for the Assad authorities, with mercenaries incomes a share of manufacturing proceeds, in accordance with American intelligence officers. Paperwork obtained by The New York Occasions referred to the fighters on the refinery as a “pro-regime power,” loyal to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. Whereas the group included some Syrian authorities troopers and militias, American army and intelligence officers decided the bulk have been personal Russian paramilitary mercenaries, seemingly affiliated with the Wagner Group, an organization ceaselessly utilized by the Kremlin to hold out goals with out showing to be immediately linked to the Russian authorities.

Unique interviews with three former Special Forces troopers who fought within the battle reveal a number of the first particulars in regards to the conflict from American troops on the bottom. That is the primary public, on-the-record account from members of one of many deadliest battles the American army has confronted in Syria since they deployed to battle ISIS in September 2014 underneath the Obama administration.

The potential for Russian army forces and American troops colliding in Syria was a relentless concern because the adversaries took opposing sides in Syria’s seven-year civil conflict. In February 2018, this battle grew to become one of many uncommon events that American and Russian combatants exchanged fireplace.

Throughout a lull within the artillery barrage, the QRF, made up of Inexperienced Berets and Marines, lastly arrived on the refinery and unleashed a barrage of gunfire, turning the tide of the battle. However the QRF’s success was short-lived. Over the ridge, one of many Special Forces troopers noticed the worst-case situation:

Russian tanks slowly superior towards the refinery.

‘I Made Peace with What Was About to Occur’

The Wagner Group, a non-public Russian army firm, has been accused of committing conflict crimes in a number of conflicts world wide.

The accusations in opposition to the Wagner Group have been extensively reported within the media and have been the topic of investigations by numerous human rights organizations. Lately, the chief of the Wagner Group stated the mercenaries would go away Bakhmut, Ukraine, as a result of they do not have sufficient ammunition from the Russians to “grind the meat,” and that his firm has misplaced “tens of hundreds” of individuals in Ukraine.

The U.S. authorities has additionally imposed sanctions on the Wagner Group. In January 2023, america named the “Russian proxy” group a “transnational felony group.”

Regardless of the accusations, the Russian authorities has denied any official hyperlinks to the Wagner Group and has dismissed the allegations of conflict crimes as baseless.

The Syrian battlefield was a complicated three-way taking pictures vary, with American forces and their SDF allies battling ISIS fighters, at the same time as pro-Syrian forces and their Wagner Group allies additionally hunted the terrorists. The oil-rich province of Deir al-Zour bordered Iraq. The Euphrates River divided the conflicting factions. Russia was on one aspect of the river, and the United States–and ISIS–on the opposite. It was usually tough to discern good friend from foe, Josh says.

Andrew, a brand new staff chief on his first deployment as a Special Forces officer, led the Special Forces staff, which had cleared an space farther south. However they headed out once more after seeing little exercise. Within the days main as much as the refinery assault, the Russians and People remained on reverse sides of the river.

The Russians deliberate to grab the oil refinery after arriving in Deir al-Zour governorate, Andrew says. A staff of about 30 troopers from Joint Particular Operations Command was stationed on the refinery, whereas Andrew’s staff and platoon of Marines have been positioned at a mission help website 20 minutes away, monitoring drone feeds of the world.

At three p.m., the Russian-led power started to collect close to the refinery, and by early night, greater than 500 troops and 27 autos, together with tanks and armored personnel carriers, have been in place.

The scenario confounded army officers and intelligence analysts within the area and in Washington as they watched on drone feeds. Pilots and floor crews throughout the area went on alert, whereas Andrew and Chauncey–the Special Forces staff sergeant–gathered the staff and ready the QRF.

Troopers loaded three M-ATV armored vehicles and an MRAP armored truck with tools, ammunition, and meals. They staged the convoy so the troopers and Marines may race to the vehicles and depart instantly. They checked their weapons and ensured every had further ammunition and thermal optics. A Black Hawk with extra medical help arrived with further blood for transfusions, Andrew says.

By dusk, everybody was ready for a battle, however hoped they would not should be: The Special Forces armored vehicles have been no match for the Russian tanks.

At 8:30 p.m., three Russian-made T-72 tanks, weighing virtually 50 tons and armed with 125 mm weapons, moved to inside a mile of the refinery. The People watched as artillery crews rehearsed firing the gun, however by no means loaded a shell, and troopers massed close to armored personnel carriers for an attack–alerting the People that the fighters have been, in reality, Russian.

“I feel a part of the inform was that Russian doctrine says that they’ll do issues that seem like workout routines proper up into the purpose,” says Josh, who monitored the Wagner Group’s actions via the drone feeds.

Round 10 p.m., the American troopers on the outpost noticed a column of tanks and different armored autos flip and drive towards the refinery from a close-by neighborhood the place they’d tried to collect undetected. Andrew and Chauncey raced to the place Chauncey’s staff waited. They’d already loaded the vehicles that night.

“Hey males, the blokes down there are getting attacked,” Chauncey stated. “Now we have to go and reply.”

The 5 armored vehicles peeled out of the outpost and down the street. They drove underneath blackout conditions–no headlights. An unarmored pickup truck with SDF troops led the staff. The SDF forces did not have night time imaginative and prescient, so it was tough for them to navigate the street, which was affected by particles, crater holes, and large grime berms to create serpentine obstacles round checkpoints.

“We’re hauling at nighttime, after which, swiftly, you pump on these berms and it is a mad sprint to get slowed down after which serpentine via these berms after which get shifting once more,” Josh says.

Because the Special Forces convoy approached the refinery, the Russian mercenaries and Syrian forces attacked the outpost, utilizing a combination of tank fireplace, massive artillery, and mortar rounds. The air was crammed with mud and shrapnel. The commandos crouched behind vehicles or grime berms because the Russian mercenaries superior behind the artillery barrage.

One Predator was on station when the assault began. It fired all of its hellfire missiles, destroying the enemy artillery so the U.S. troops may deal with the bottom battle. Then the Predator lingered over the battlefield to offer a video feed of the combating to battle captains within the command middle and officers in Washington.

For the primary quarter-hour, American army officers in Washington labored to contact their Russian counterparts and urge them to cease the assault. When the Russians denied it was their forces, American troops fired warning pictures at a gaggle of autos and a howitzer, however the troops continued to advance.

The Wagner mercenaries had a surface-to-air system that made it inconceivable for American plane to press the assault. Solely after officers in Washington talked to their Russian counterparts did the surface-to-air system get shut down, permitting American plane to return and assault.

The SDF truck main the Special Forces convoy stopped wanting the compound as artillery shells rained down on the refinery. Up forward, the sky flashed with explosions and tracer fireplace. The SDF troopers within the unarmored truck main the convoy took one look, circled, and took off.

Smartest man on the battlefield, Chauncey remembers pondering.

Others had the identical response. Over the radio, they heard the American commando power within the refinery. Each time the commandos keyed their mics, explosions from incoming rounds drowned out their transmissions. It felt like being within the entrance row of an area rock present. The commandos may really feel the sound of their chests.

“I made peace with what was about to occur,” Josh says. “Due to what was coming over the radio, I used to be like, ‘Now we have to get there for our dudes.'”

Contained in the compound, the commandos and their SDF allies have been dug in. With out heavy weapons, they may do nothing however hunker down. Throughout a lull within the artillery barrage, Andrew bought on the radio with the commandos’ commander, who “sparkled” them into the perimeter utilizing an infrared laser. Leaping from his truck to speak with the commandos’ commander, Andrew noticed defensive positions on the berm with commandos or SDF fighters subsequent to six-foot craters the place artillery shells had landed.

Miraculously, the small staff of American troops emerged unscathed, with just one allied Syrian fighter wounded. The commandos’ commander was relieved to see the staff.

“We’re simply hiding behind the vehicles consuming artillery,” he advised the Special Forces staff.

However that was simply the beginning. The Russians had a mixed arms battalion of about 500 troopers, tanks, armored personnel carriers, and artillery with help parts shut by. The People now had a half-dozen vehicles and fewer than 50 guys.

“The dimensions of this factor is a giant a part of this and why the air help was so important,” Josh says.

One other wave of fighters have been inbound, however not on station but, because the Russians superior.

“They are not going to be right here for some time,” the commando commander advised Andrew. “Are you able to guys see?”

The commandos have been frivolously armed with solely machine weapons and small arms that lacked the vary or punch to do actual harm to the Russians. The 5 QRF vehicles, armed with .50-caliber machine weapons, may see the entire battlefield and had the vary to interact the Russians advancing towards the refinery. The Special Forces vehicles lined up behind the berm dealing with the advancing pro-Syrian troops and Wagner Group mercenaries.

The enemy opened fireplace with a twin-barrel anti-aircraft autocannon, sending a gradual stream of shells into the compound.

Because the vehicles pulled into the line of defense, Chauncey bought on the inner truck radio to rally the staff.

“Hey, that is what we receives a commission for,” he remembers telling the three different Special Forces troopers. “I need everyone to be alert, conscious, like eyes open. In case you see something in any respect, give us a distance, path, description of what you see. Name out what you see, after which we’ll make choices on the fly and get busy.”

‘They’re Not Hitting Something’

The Russian mercenaries left their autos and moved towards the outpost on foot. The Special Forces staff used joysticks to fireplace the heavy machine weapons in distant turrets on the roof.

Hey, these guys should assume that they only annihilated this location, Chauncey remembers pondering as he watched the Russians strategy. They’re simply going to stroll up and take it.

There have been no pleasant forces in entrance, so the gunners did not have to fret about hitting civilians. If it moved, it was seemingly an enemy, and so they have been cleared to interact.

“Let’s open up and let ’em know we’re right here,” Chauncey stated.

Josh’s staff in truck two tracked a small group of mercenaries about 1,000 meters from the vehicles and shutting. The gunner rotated the .50-caliber machine gun robotically stabilized on the roof. It may put hundreds of rounds on course from greater than 1,000 yards. Even on cyclic, the place the gun does not cease taking pictures till it runs out of bullets, it may keep a grouping that matches on the hood of a small automobile. A targe

“Laz these guys and shoot ’em,” Josh stated.

The gunner–an explosive ordnance disposal tech hooked up to the team–hit the set off however did not depress the protection. After a number of makes an attempt to fireplace, Josh reached for the controller. Josh zeroed in on the group of Russian and pro-Syrian fighters and fired. The .50-caliber machine gun on high of the truck roared and the white-hot silhouettes of males approaching the berm exploded into components scattered throughout the black sand.

Seconds after Josh minimize down the group, the entire horizon lit up with machine gun fireplace. The remainder of the Russian power, dug into hasty combating positions after the airstrikes, hammered the berm with small arms and machine-gun fireplace. The Special Forces gunners marked Russian autos and combating positions. It did not take lengthy for the American machine weapons to begin “speaking,” that means there was no house between bursts because the completely different weapons fired on the Russian positions. The wall of fireplace was regular and overwhelming, forcing the Wagner mercenaries and pro-Syrian forces to take cowl.

“We’re much more correct than they’re,” Chauncey says. “We are able to see the sparks flying from hitting metallic. We are able to see combating positions getting shot up. We all know that we’re having good results and we’re killing personnel.”

The terrain was baseball-diamond flat. Grime from the berm kicked up in entrance of the vehicles because the mercenaries and pro-Syrian forces superior. However they did not hit any of the vehicles. The Special Forces troopers figured the Syrian troopers and Russians lacked night time imaginative and prescient.

“They cannot be that unhealthy a shot,” Josh stated. “They are not hitting something.”

Quickly, the machine gun on Josh’s truck ran out of ammunition. A large canister that held about 400 rounds sat subsequent to the gun. To reload it, somebody needed to climb outdoors the truck amid a maelstrom of shrapnel and machine-gun bullets and feed belts of ammunition into the canister.

Three troopers, together with Josh, sat within the truck. The motive force needed to keep in case the truck wanted to maneuver. The EOD tech wasn’t educated to reload the gun. That left Josh. A hatch within the truck’s roof may cut up open. However the seal was so tight that, to open it, Josh must lie on his again within the middle seat and kick it. And extra tools and provides crowded the roof.

He must threat the bullets and shrapnel.

Josh popped open his armored passenger aspect door and climbed onto the truck’s roof. The EOD tech handed him ammunition belts so he may join them right into a daisy chain and S-fold them into the container–otherwise the gun would jam.

Josh started working reloading the canister, however his night time imaginative and prescient scopes centered on a set distance, making close-in work tough. He linked two belts–about 100 rounds–and was reaching for an additional belt when an artillery spherical landed close by. The shockwave hit Josh within the chest, adopted by an earth-shattering thud.

He wanted to reload quicker.

Flipping up his night time imaginative and prescient goggles, he flicked on a headlamp with a pink lens that hung round his neck so he may load the final belts. A number of seconds after he turned on his gentle, he heard a chopping sound.

Tracers from the anti-aircraft cannon climbed into the air in step with the truck.

Why are they taking pictures tracers? Josh remembers questioning, simply because it dawned on him that the tracers have been aimed toward his pink gentle.

He flicked off the sunshine and huddled down as the primary rounds from the cannon arrived. The noise wasn’t the laborious snap from a rifle however one thing deeper.

Guttural.

And loud.

It was so loud he could not hear himself cackling because the shells handed overhead and landed harmlessly behind him. Josh knew he was in bother. He could not rely on them to overlook once more.

He wanted to get into the truck.

You fool, he remembers pondering. You place your headlamp on. They only referred to as your bluff. You place your gentle on. One may have had your quantity on it and there would not have been something left to ship again. I have to get the gun again up–and earlier than I eat a Pink Bull can-sized slug whereas I am doing it.

He folded the final bands of ammunition into the canister and scrambled again into the armored crew compartment.

A number of vehicles away, Chauncey drew out his staff’s positions and estimated the place the Wagner Group positions have been positioned on a bit of paper. He felt assured as a result of, in his thoughts, they have been profitable. Then he bought a name from one of many staff’s vehicles.

“Hey Zulu,” the Special Forces soldier stated, utilizing the staff sergeant’s name signal.

“What’s up?” Chauncey stated. “Go forward. Ship your site visitors.”

“Hey, I bought eyes on these actually massive autos.”

Chauncey knew what they have been, however nobody wished to say it.

Russian tanks have been advancing.

‘We’re Going to Keep and Combat’

Chauncey counted 10 tanks on the horizon. They moved ahead slowly, one after the other.

“Gimme 5 rounds on that basically massive automobile,” Chauncey stated to the truck staff that noticed the tanks.

On an older mannequin tank, the .50 caliber would possibly punch some holes via the armor. Not so on newer fashions. The bullets would bounce proper off. If they’d the newer fashions, the Special Forces staff was in bother.

“Roger that,” the gunner stated over the radio, and opened fireplace.

Chauncey noticed the tracers race throughout the black sky. 5 rounds proper on course. Growth. Growth. Growth. Growth. Growth.

Adopted by bing, bing, bing, bing, bing.

Chauncey hit his gunner on the leg.

“Hey, gimme 5 rounds on that tank that is additional to the west, additional to our proper.”

“Roger that, 5 rounds.”

The gunner rotated the machine gun above Chauncey’s head and fired. 5 out. 5 rounds bounced.

“Hey, truck two — get eyes on that middle automobile,” Chauncey radioed to Josh.

“Yep. Roger that.”

“Gimme 5 rounds.”

Similar end result.

They have been in bother.

The Russian tanks have been about 2,000 meters away, which in a tank battle means shut vary. However the Russian crew lacked the night time imaginative and prescient functionality to maneuver at velocity. Andrew and Chauncey got here up with a hasty plan: With out plane cowl, they’d should abandon the plant.

“Hey, what’s up with plane?” Chauncey requested Andrew.

He was combating to get plane on station. Andrew referred to as again to the commandos.

“Hey, you guys bought something?” he stated.

Nobody had a solution on plane. Andrew did not know the Russians had an anti-aircraft missile system energetic, denying the airspace. In the meantime, on the bottom, the Special Forces staff would die with out assist.

They needed to decelerate the tanks whereas the staff and commandos consolidated and waited for air cowl.

However Andrew knew they could not depart. That might open the trail for a big Russian power to proceed north with nothing stopping it from reaching the American help base and controlling the area his staff had simply spent months clearing of ISIS. It additionally gave them entry to a community of oil and pure gasoline refineries within the area.

“Maintain taking pictures and marking something armor with tracers for when plane checks in,” Andrew stated.

Chauncey knew the staff was united. They referred to as the staff a pirate ship as a result of if something occurred, they have been all happening collectively. And now dealing with tanks, that was an actual likelihood. Regardless of current showings on the battlefields of Ukraine, the tank continues to be an apex predator on the battlefield. The American Special Forces did not have a weapon that might cease them. It was like being stalked by a turtle. With each minute, the tanks slowly closed.

Chauncey keyed his mic.

“We will keep and battle,” he advised the staff.

Nobody questioned the order. However privately, for the second time within the battle, Josh thought-about his probabilities of survival. He’d already tempted destiny along with his headlamp. It was solely a matter of time earlier than the tanks can be shut sufficient to hit the MAT-V vehicles, and regardless of being armored, they stood no likelihood in opposition to the tank’s 125 mm cannon.

“The whole lot that we have completed, and that is the place all the things ends,” Josh tells The Warfare Horse. “In opposition to Russian mercenaries with tanks. Not even the enemy that we got here to battle. We needed to make peace with the potential of not making it again, however it was simpler to swallow understanding we have been defending our pals and doing what wanted to be performed.”

Regardless of lengthy odds, the American vehicles continued to fireplace on the oncoming tanks and Russian positions. The tank gun barrels flashed underneath the inexperienced hue of the night time imaginative and prescient goggles because the shells whistled overhead. The Special Forces vehicles sat on the berm, straightforward targets had the Russians been capable of shoot at night time. Regardless of closing, each tank spherical missed.

However the tanks have been getting shut, with one lower than a kilometer away, regardless of a gradual stream of fireplace from the American vehicles.

From the nook of his eye, Chauncey noticed a flash. The primary tank, which had closed to lower than a kilometer, exploded in an enormous fireball.

“What the heck was that?”

He craned his neck to see out of the small, bullet-resistant home windows. Earlier than Chauncey bought a solution, a tank farther to the west exploded as two pairs of Apache assault helicopters flew overhead. As soon as they cleared the berm, the assault helicopters opened fireplace with the chain gun underneath the cockpit, raking Russian combating positions. The Special Forces staff lit up the advancing tanks with machine gun fireplace because the Apaches circled for an additional run.

“As quickly as they noticed us shoot one thing, it blew up,” Chauncey stated. “They minimize via tanks, and so they simply got here in and laid waste for the following in all probability 45 minutes. They only destroyed all the things.”

The Apaches arrived simply in time. Josh vividly remembers listening to the chain gun go off after which extra rockets putting the tanks.

“I am a full believer that with out the air that responded to us on station, all of us would’ve been a bunch of grease stains on the earth in a line in an oil subject in Syria.”

‘Simply Tighten Your Helmet and Lock the Doorways’

Issues have been wanting up when a battle captain within the command middle radioed Andrew.

“Hey, simply be suggested, incoming bomber,” the battle captain stated.

“Roger,” Andrew stated, blissful to have extra air cowl.

“No, dude,” the battle captain stated. “Russian bomber inbound.”

American plane had superiority over Syria, but when the Russians have been sending a bomber, that modified the battlefield calculus. Andrew bought on the staff web and warned them in regards to the incoming bomber.

“Do what you need with it, however there’s nothing you are able to do,” Andrew stated. “Simply tighten your helmet and lock the doorways.”

For the following a number of minutes, Andrew waited for the bomber. Wouldn’t it drop or simply buzz them? He’d survived a tank battle already, however this was worse. A 500-pound bomb would kill his entire staff. Simply earlier than the bomber was alleged to arrive, the battle captain referred to as again.

No bomber.

The Russians turned again.

An hour later, the Russian fighters began to retreat. Russian and American officers declared a cease-fire, and the Special Forces watched because the mercenaries and Syrian fighters returned to gather their useless. Our bodies and burnt autos have been specified by entrance of them.

It was two hours to daybreak. The staff watched from the berm because the Russians cleared the sphere. The staff ran an ammo test and cross-loaded provides. Andrew ordered his males to relaxation and attempt to eat. Sleep in shifts if they may. However most have been too jacked on adrenaline.

The following day, Chauncey noticed protection of the battle on CNN. It sounded scientific and watered down. Nothing like what he’d skilled the night time earlier than.

“We went via 4,000 or 6,000 rounds [of .50 caliber] that night time,” Andrew says. “I feel the entire [battle damage assessment] after the actual fact was like 350 [killed].”

The precise casualty rely for the Feb. 7 battle is unclear, however sources have estimated between 100 and 300 Russian and pro-Syrian fighters have been killed or wounded within the battle. Russian officers declare solely 5 Russian residents died, however audio recordings of Wagner Group troopers recommend a whole bunch of mercenaries have been killed. One Wagner Group veteran confirmed the Apache assault within the recordings, describing it as “a f—ing merry-go-round with heavy-caliber machine weapons.”

“To make it brief, we have had our f—ing asses kicked,” one Wagner Group veteran says in a recording. “They tore us to items. … They beat our asses like we have been little items of shit.”

9 of the ten tanks have been destroyed, in addition to all six artillery items. The Special Forces staff destroyed the lone surviving tank a number of days later.

“We didn’t maintain a single damage,” Chauncey says. “We did not maintain a single loss of life. I imply, guys have been dinged up. Guys had PTSD from that battle, however everybody made it dwelling.”

This Warfare Horse function was reported by Kevin Maurer, edited by Kelly Kennedy, fact-checked by Jess Rohan and copy-edited by Mitchell Hansen-Dewar. Headlines are by Abbie Bennett.

Editor’s Word: This text first appeared on The Warfare Horse, an award-winning nonprofit information group educating the general public on army service. Subscribe to their publication.

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