WASHINGTON DC, - The artillery fire was so intense that it made the US commandos have to hide inside the foxhole. The vicious salvo shots were the opening "menus" of a four-hour attack in February involving 500 Syrian and Russian mercenaries.
After the four hour battle ended 200-300 attackers were killed and the rest retreated under US air strikes leaving the bodies of their friends. Meanwhile, of the 40 US troops who defended a small outpost in eastern Syria, none were killed.
Details of battle which occurred on February 7, 2018, and obtained by The New York Times with a number of documents and interviews. The documents and interviews confirm one of the bloodiest battles involving US soldiers in Syria since deployed to conduct ISIS eradication operation.
The Pentagon described the fighting as a self-defends against Syrian pro-government attack. In interviews, US military personnel were involved in the fighting said they were very nervous while watching hundreds of personnel, combat vehicles, and artillery prepared ahead of the enemy's attack.
A battle between US and Russian troops has long been predicted to happen let alone the two Cold War rivals are on the opposite side in the Syrian civil war.
A few days before the attack began, on a different side of the Euphrates River, Russia and the United States supported a different group fighting ISIS in the oil-rich province of Deir el-Zor bordering Iraq.
US officers have repeatedly warned about the growing concentration of troops, but Russian officers say they have no control over troops near the river. On the other hand, US surveillance equipment that captures radio transmissions reveals a conversation in Russian among the troops.
The documents received by The New York Times only mention troops gathered on the banks of the Euphrates River as "pro-government forces". In the army, there were Syrian regular soldiers and armed militia. However, US military intelligence added that there were large numbers of Russian mercenaries in the force.
The mercenary force, according to US military intelligence, is likely to be a member of the Warner Group, a company often used by the Kremlin to undertake a secret mission that cannot be tied to the Russian government. "Russia's highest command in Syria makes sure they are not part of the Russian forces," US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told senators last month.
Mattis said he ordered General Joseph F Dunford Jr., commander of the armed forces to attack and destroy them. "And they did," Mattis said.
The day of the battle, a unit special forces team Delta Force and Rangers personnel along with Kurdish troops and Arab militia guarded a small and dusty post near the Conoco gas field, not far from the town of Deir al-Zor. About 32 kilometers away, at a base, a team of Green Berets troops and a Marine platoon watch over their computer screens.
They watched the pictures sent by drones and then sent the information to the troops guarding the Conoco post. At 3 pm, Syrian troops began to besiege US troops and allies in the Conoco gas field. In the evening, more than 500 personnel and 27 combat vehicles including tanks participated in the attack.
Meanwhile, at Al Udeid Air Force Base in Qatar and at the Pentagon, military officers and intelligence analysts watched the "drama". The commanders gave a briefing to the pilots and ground crew while the jet-jet fighter in the area was on standby.
At the mission site, 16 troops of Green Berets and Marines are preparing in an anti-mine vehicle. They are prepared if troops in the Conoco gas field need help. They ensure all weapons and their vehicles are complete carryings anti-tank missiles, heat monitors glasses, food, and drinking water.
At 8:30, three Russian T-72 tanks weighing nearly 50 tons with a 125-millimeter cannon moved towards the Conoco gas field. Knowing this, the reaction forces prepared by Green Berets prepared to do their job.
At Conoco's post, US troops watched tanks and combat vehicles move toward them at 10 pm, then enemies come from settlements that kept them undetected. Half an hour later, Syrian troops supported by Russian mercenaries started the attack. The document showed that the guard in Conoco was bombarded with tank gunfire, artillery, and mortars.
The bullet rains made the air filled with dust and shrapnel. US commandos then use the dust as a protection when moving to attack using anti-tank missiles and machine guns.
During the first 15 minutes, US officers contacted the Russian commanders to stop the attacks. When attempts to stop the attacks were unsuccessful, US troops fired warning shots using the Howitzer cannon. However, the attacking forces went ahead. Then from a distance, US F-22 fighter jets, F-15E, B-52 bomber, AC-130, and AH-64 Apache attack helicopter and Reaper drone arrived to help US Commandos.
Over the next three hours, air strikes and Marines artillery successfully destroy enemy troops, tanks, and other combat vehicles. Meanwhile, the reaction forces moved into the battlefield.
In a dark with a road full of bomb holes, the 32-kilometer journey was very difficult, plus the truck did not turn the lights on. Truck drivers rely solely on hot censorship cameras for the road to the battlefield. As Green Berets and Marines close to the Conoco gas field at 11:30 pm, they were forced to stop.
Enemy artillery was too dangerous for them to go ahead. They waited until the air strikes could stop the opponent's artillery fire. In Conoco, US commandos who were surrounded by enemy artillery fire began to run out of ammunition.
At 1 am, as the frequency of artillery fire began to dwindle, Green Berets and Marines began to go towards the Conoco post and began firing at the enemy. At that time, several US fighter jets had returned to the base, because they ran out of fuel and ammunition.
With the arrival of additional troops, now the number of US military personnel in the battle are 40 soldiers. They defend the position, meanwhile, the Russian mercenaries get off the vehicle and move forward by walking.
A number of Marines have run out of machine-gun bullets and the Javelin missiles are scattered at some point. Some Green Berets and Marines fired shots from their protection, the rest were firing machine guns from truck's roof.
An hour later, enemy troops began to retreat and US troops stopped the fire. From the checkpoint, US commandos watched Russian mercenaries and Syrian militias took the bodies of their comrades.
While on the US side, no person was injured while from the Kurdish-Arab alliance only one person was injured. The number of casualties in the battle of February 7, 2018, was confusing. Initially, Russia called only four people who died. A Syrian officer said about 100 Syrian soldiers were killed. While in The New York Times documents said, 200-300 people, pro-President Bashar al-Assad's army dead.
However, there are a number of questions about Russian mercenaries and what is the reason they attacked US troops. US intelligence said the invading forces were part of Wagner Group in Syria to take over oil and gas fields for Assad's government. US intelligence said the mercenaries were promised to get a share of the oil and gas field production.
The mercenaries have no direct coordination with the Russian military in Syria even though Wagner Group leaders have been awarded in the Kremlin, so far Russian forces in Syria denied in the attack against US military.
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