U.S. forces destroy Russian mercenaries

I sort of pity them, because rumor has it that there were wiretapped conversations among the mercenaries that they stood no chance against the US forces who were supporting Kurds in the region. Almost as if they were forced to charge at America.

From The Washington Post last week:

Quote:

A group of Russian military contractors died in a U.S. airstrike in Syria last week, people who knew two of those killed said Tuesday, signaling the beginning of a potentially dangerous phase in the crowded theater of war in the Middle East. The incident appears to be the first publicly known case of the U.S. military firing on and killing Russians fighting on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Neither Washington nor Moscow officially confirmed the deaths. And the Kremlin, rather than using the incident to fan anti-American feelings, sought to play it down.

Interesting take from here:

Quote:

The core of the attacking force came from the Wagner Group, Russia’s version of the American thugs who worked for the company formerly known as Blackwater. But while the media refers to the Russians as mercenaries, the Wagner Group functions as an auxiliary of the Russian military — it previously gave command performances in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. It exists to give Moscow (barely) plausible deniability.

Heavy on opinion of course, but not unprecedented.