US forces ‘killed scores of Russian fighters in Syria while defending position’
Russia’s military said it had nothing to do with the attack by Russian mercenaries who attacked a base held by US and Kurdish forces
US forces killed scores of Russian mercenaries in Syria last week in what may be the deadliest clash between citizens of the former foes since the cold war, according to one US official and three Russians familiar with the matter.
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 US and mainly Kurdish forces in the oil-rich Deir Ezzor region, two of the Russians said. The US official put the death toll at about 100, with 200 to 300 injured.
The Russian assault may have been a rogue operation, underscoring the complexity of a conflict that started as a domestic crackdown only to morph into a proxy war involving Islamic extremists, stateless Kurds and regional powers Iran, Turkey and now Israel.
Russia’s military said it had nothing to do with the attack and the US accepted the claim. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis called the whole thing “perplexing,” but provided no further details.
This is a big scandal and a reason for an acute international crisis. But Russia will pretend nothing happened
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, declined to comment on reports of Russian casualties, saying the Kremlin only tracks data on the country’s armed forces.