With no U.S. servicemembers killed.

To stop the advance of the Islamic State (ISIL), the U.S. has had troops deployed to Syria since 2014.

At this time, Russia also had an interest in stopping the Islamic State and joined the fight in Syria in 2015 — Russia took the side of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while the U.S. supported the anti-Assad Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

So, while the two countries shared a common goal, they were backing two different combatants in Syria’s bloody civil war.

Working together through careful use of de-confliction lines and open communication channels, the U.S. and Russia were able to drive out ISIL by 2018, while largely avoiding each other’s area of operations.

Despite these precautions, on February 7, 2018, the two nuclear-armed nations engaged in a deadly firefight that would see U.S. special operations units, with combined arms support, annihilate close to 200-300 Russian Wagner mercenaries.

“The Yankees tore us to pieces…” -Russian Soldier

As the sun was setting on that fateful day, 500 Russian mercenaries, supported by Syrian government fighters, began to move towards a Conoco gas plant occupied by Syrian Democratic Forces.

This plant, and its supporting outpost, were several miles past the U.S. side of the de-confliction line marked by the Euphrates River.

On this particular evening, a team of about 30 Delta Force soldiers and U.S. Army Rangers from the Joint Special Operations Command were working alongside Kurdish forces at the plant.

20 miles away, at a location called the mission support site, a team of U.S. Army Green Berets and an infantry platoon of U.S. Marines watched drone feeds and passed information to the Americans at the gas plant about the incoming fighters.

Along with Russia’s 500 fighters, the attackers also had numerous T-72 main battle tanks, artillery support, and mortars.

In total, the Russians had 27 armored vehicles in their convoy.

As the Russians moved closer to the plant, U.S. military intelligence analysts were watching satellite and drone feeds from the American air operations center at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

Immediately, they began alerting pilots and ground crews across the region to prepare to launch.

Then, Russia began shelling the Conoco base without warning.

As the base was struck with a mixture of tank fire, artillery, and mortar rounds, the American commandos dove for cover.

Over the next fifteen minutes, the Americans endured the bombardment while U.S. military officials quickly called their Russian counterparts through the de-confliction phone line to urge them to call off the attack.

Meanwhile, 20 miles away, the Green Berets and Marines prepared to move out their Quick Reactionary Force (QRF) and ensured that their mine-protected vehicles were loaded up with anti-tank rounds and thermal optics.

On the phone, the Russians claimed that it wasn’t them and that no Russians were part of the attacking force.

The U.S. official asked again, “Are you sure it’s not Russia?”

And again, the Russian official explicitly denied that any Russian forces were on the ground.

We now know through U.S. signals intelligence that intercepted communications from the attacking force spoke to each other via radio entirely in Russian.

The Americans used a howitzer to fire a warning shot at a group of vehicles, but the Russians continued to advance.

What happened next was hell on earth.

An America Reaper drone was the first to engage on the American side, firing missiles at the first and last vehicles in the Russian convoy.
An MQ-9 Reaper flies a training mission over the Nevada Test and Training Range, July 15, 2019. MQ-9 aircrew provide dominant, persistent attack and reconnaissance for comabtant commanders and coalition partners across the globe. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class William Rio Rosado) Public domain.

The explosions trapped the bulk of the Russian force in the middle.

Next, Marine artillery and HIMARS rockets engaged the convoy inflicting numerous casualties.

Then, American warplanes arrived in waves, including more Reaper drones, F-22 stealth fighters, F-15E Strike Eagles, B-52 strategic bombers (seems like overkill, but okay), AC-130 gunships, and four AH-64 Apache helicopters.

For the next three hours, scores of strikes punished enemy troops, tanks, and other armored vehicles.

The QRF force sped toward the fight using nothing but thermal vision to navigate the darkness. By the time they had made the 20-mile drive, they held short due to the continuous American bombardment.

A short lull in the bombardment at 1 am provided a window of opportunity for the Green Berets and the Marines from the QRF to reinforce the Conoco plant. Once they arrived, they contributed to the firefight, shooting at the Russian Wagner mercenaries who had abandoned their vehicles and were now making their way to the plant on foot.

Some Russians took shelter in nearby buildings.

U.S. Air Force combat controllers in the plant worked their radios to direct the next fleet of bombers and fighters flying toward the battlefield and called in JDAM smart bombs to destroy the buildings.

The buildings, and anyone inside, were liquidated.

An hour later, the gunfire had stopped, and the Russian forces began to retreat.

The Americans suffered no casualties and one allied SDF fighter was wounded.

The following transcript is from both intercepted SIGINT and open source Russian communications after the event [explicit language]:

“The reports that are on TV, about, well you know, about Syria and the 25 people who are wounded there from the Syrian fucking army and well, to make it short, we’ve had our asses fucking kicked. So one squadron lost 200 people in the first few minutes! Another lost 10 people. I don’t know about the third squadron, but it got torn up pretty badly too. So, three squadrons took a beating…”

“The Yankees attacked. First, they blasted the fuck out of us with artillery, and then they took 4 helicopters up and pushed us in a fucking merry-go-round with heavy-caliber machine guns. They were all shelling the holy fuck out of us, and our guys didn’t have anything besides the assault rifles. They tore us to pieces for sure. Put us through hell. And the Yankees knew for sure that the Russians were coming — that it was us.”

“Our guys were coming to commandeer an oil plant and the Yankees were holding it. We got our fucking asses beat rough. My men called me. They are there drinking now. Many have gone missing. It’s a total fuck up. It sucks. Another takedown.”

“Just had a call with a guy. So, they basically formed a convoy to take this plant but didn’t even get to their positions. They saw an American flag get raised and then all hell broke loose. Then the American choppers flew in and started cooking everybody. Ours just running around.”

“Just got a call from a pal. So, there are about 215 fucking killed so far. They simply rolled ours out fucking hard. The Americans made their point. What the fuck were ours hoping for in there? That the Americans would run away themselves? That we hoped to scare them away? Lots of people fucked up so bad they can’t even be ID’d.”
An AC-130W Stinger II assigned to the 73rd Special Operations Squadron fires a burst of rounds during a live-fire training mission on Range 10, Feb. 3, 2016, Melrose Air Force Range, N.M. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Manuel J. Martinez) Public domain.

As the Russians returned to collect their dead, they remarked about the sand turned to glass and rifle barrels melted from the heat.

The Russian government initially reported 20 to 30 volunteer contractors had been killed attempting to take a Conoco gas plant from the SDF.

A Russian military doctor and source with ties to Wagner claimed 80–100 PMCs were killed and 200 wounded.

Russian member of parliament Franz Klintsevich called U.S. strikes illegal and an act of aggression despite the attack being perpetrated well across the American side of the de-confliction line.

Documents obtained by the New York Times estimated 200 to 300 of the “pro-regime force” were killed.

Why did Russia attack in the first place?

Likely, Wagner didn’t realize that U.S. special operations units were at the plant, and they certainly didn’t appreciate the American joint warfare coordination that the U.S. has perfected in that part of the world since the start of the Global War on Terror.

But the most likely reason is this: In Syria, Russian mercenaries earn a share of the production proceeds from the oil fields they reclaim on behalf of the Syrian government.

This makes it extremely lucrative for Russian mercenaries like Wagner to capture oil fields, plants, and refineries from the SDF.

Almost two months later, a contingent of pro-Syrian government forces and Russian “mercenaries” had again similarly amassed near U.S. forces at the Conoco gas plant.

But this time, when the U.S. official called his Russian counterpart to inquire about the Russian presence, the Russian acknowledged the Russian troops present and urged the U.S. to hold fire.

The Russian forces decided to pull back