Night attack

How many Russians died on the night of May 23 in the area of ​​Deir Ez-Zor and who attacked the artillery battery. Version

The Russian Ministry of Defense officially recognized the death of four Russians in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor and the wound of three more military personnel. The military department could not be silent, because last Sunday there was information about the funeral in Chita, 32-year-old senior lieutenant Sergei Elin and 23-year-old sergeant-contracted Igor Mikhailov. Both served in the 200th artillery brigade, which was deployed in the village of Drovyany, the Trans-Baikal Territory, and at the end of April were sent on a business trip to Syria.

On May 27, the Ministry of Defense distributed a press release in which it said that the artillery battery of the Syrian government troops was attacked by several mobile groups of militants. The attack was repelled, but “two Russian military advisers who controlled fire died on the spot”, five more were injured, were evacuated to the hospital, but it was not possible to save two of them. According to the military department, the enemy also suffered serious losses-43 terrorist was liquidated and six vests with large-caliber weapons were destroyed.

Meanwhile, the ISIS terrorist organization banned in Russia on May 23 distributed a message about a “successful operation” against government troops, as a result of which “about 23 Syrian and Russian military were killed, and five of them were captured.”

On May 27, the MU TO news agency, affiliated with ISIS prohibited in Russia, has already reported

50 prisoners, among whom are really five “crusaders”, as Wagner fighters are called in terrorist international.

More detailed information about the clashes, in which the Russian military, “Wagnerians” allegedly took part, fighters of the 104th Syrian Republican Guard, as well as fighters of the Tiger Syrian division under the leadership of Suchail El Hassan. (El Hassan enjoys serious support from the Russian Ministry of Defense. Perhaps this is a random coincidence, but the fighters of the Tiger division worked in special operations in which, as it was later found out, the fighters of the Wagner PMC played a key role. This was the case in Aleppo, during the second liberation of Palmyra, when deir-ez-zer release.)

ISIS reports was preceded by information about the Koalition Forces Night Air Survival in social networks by the positions of the units of the Syrian army. The command of the Russian military group in Syria rapidly refuted this, saying that the means of monitoring the air situation at night in the area of ​​clashes did not record the departures of coalition aviation. The ISIS message about the attack on the position of government forces, as it were, confirmed the statement of the Russian command and refuted the involvement of the coalition in the clash.

Soon, a new version of what happened, voiced by Kommersant, source in the Ministry of Defense and confirmed by our source in Damascus: as if an attack on the position of the “artillery battery of the Syrian government forces” were made by mobile units not ISIS, but the so -called “Syrian Free Army”, which is considered a “moderate opposition” in the West.

Last week, the unit of the Syrian government army completely liberated the city of Yarmuk, located south of Damascus. At the same time, several hundred militants stopped resistance and after negotiations left the city along the “humanitarian corridor”. Now it turns out that some of the fighters of the "Syrian Free Army" went to the province of Deir ez-Zor. But what is interesting: according to the source of Kommersant, on May 20–21, several armed groups from the environs of the village of ET-Tanf, located in the province of Homs, on the border of Syria with Jordan, advanced to the same area.

ET-Tanf is known for the fact that it was near this border town in April last year that the military base of coalition forces led by the United States was deployed. Over the year of the functioning of this base, the Russian Ministry of Defense has repeatedly stated that the United States is used to prepare the “moderate opposition” militants. In particular,

According to the official representative of the military department of General Igor Konoshenkov, fighters of the so -called “New Syrian Army”, who are trained by instructors from the USA, Norway and Great Britain, are preparing at this base.

Our sources in the military intelligence of the Syrian government army claim that before the attack on the position of the artillery battery on the night of May 23, militants who arrived from Yarmuk received weapons, ammunition and equipment from their “colleagues”, who were raised into Deir-Ez-Zor, from the Syrian-Jordanian border. At the same time, Khmeimim refuses this version at the Russian base of Khmeimim. But they do not deny that during the night attack on the night of May 23 there were other combat losses, except for Russia officially recognized by the Russian military department.

Apparently, we are talking about the personnel of the unit, which is customary to call the "PMC Wagner".

According to the “New” from a source located directly at the scene, the losses among the “Wagnerians” are at least five people.

At the same time, our interlocutors carefully hint that there were no combat -ready divisions of the ISIS terrorist organization in this area, and the mentioned “ISIS statement” about the “successful operation” may have been widespread by the “free Syrian army”, which had covered the Igilov brand. This optimistic version allows us to hope that the Russians who are captured will remain alive, since the “moderate opposition” is hardly deciding on their liquidation. Our sources both on the basis of Khmeimim and in the military intelligence of Syria suggest that the captured Russians could be delivered to the ET-Tanf military base.