Spiegel: Wagner PMC did not participate in the clash with the US military in Deir ez-Zor

An armed clash in early February in Syrian Deir ez-Zor took place between the United States and various groups supporting Bashar al-Assad. The Wagner PMC fighters did not participate in the conflict, they came under American fire by accident, as they were in a neighboring village. No more than 20 Wagner PMC fighters died in the collision, writes the German newspaper Spiegel. Its journalists reconstructed the course of events for two weeks, communicating with eyewitnesses, participants in the battle, as well as with an employee of the only hospital in Deir ez-Zor and with an employee of the local military airfield.

• According to the newspaper, on February 7, about 250 fighters from various Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi groups supporting Bashar al-Assad tried to organize a bridge from the western to the eastern bank of the Euphrates. According to eyewitnesses, there were no Russians in this group.
• Since the United States and Russia agreed to consider the Euphrates River as a kind of border separating pro-Assad troops (western bank) and coalition forces led by the United States (eastern bank), the Americans regarded the crossing as an attack attempt and fired several warning shots, forcing the enemy to stop the crossing.
• But on the night of February 7-8, the number of the group doubled, its fighters were unable to cross the Euphrates and reach the village of Marrat on the east bank unnoticed. When around 22:00 they again moved to the camp of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Americans opened fire to kill.
• The publication emphasizes that the US military "came into a rage", since under the agreement, part of the pro-Assad forces can indeed be located on the eastern coast, but in small numbers and peacefully. They considered this part of the agreement violated. As a result, American troops connected AC-130 heavy aircraft, missiles, drones and artillery. The strikes continued until 9 February.
• Due to the scale of the bombing, a small group of Wagner PMC fighters came under fire, which was located in a village not far from the collision site, but did not participate in the battles. Killed up to 20 of its fighters. In total, more than 200 people were killed by the pro-Assad forces.
• According to an employee of the only major hospital in Deir ez-Zor, about a dozen bodies of Russians were delivered there. A worker at the local military airfield saw them loaded into two pickup trucks and taken to a waiting Russian transport vehicle, which then left in the direction of an airport on the northern border of Syria.
• The German newspaper also showed the first video from the scene of the conflict, taken on the afternoon of February 8 by one of the fighters.
• After it became known about the clash, the media called a different number of dead Russians - from a dozen to more than 200 people. US officials said the total number of attackers (including Syrians) was 257. The Russian Foreign Ministry, emphasizing that the injured Russians are not related to official military structures, spoke of "dozens of wounded" and five dead.
• You can read about PMC Wagner here and here .

What do I get from this?

A lot has been written about the battle in Deir ez-Zor over the past month. According to Spiegel, the role of the Wagner PMC mercenaries and their losses in it are greatly exaggerated. Unfortunately, there will be no official data. PMCs in Russia are illegal.

Artem Gubenko