About 40 US soldiers held off hundreds of Russian mercenaries in a brutal firefight in Syria

Rodi Said/Reuters

A US soldier stands near a military vehicle, north of Raqqa in Syria.

• Roughly 40 US commandos held off about 500 pro-Syrian government forces - including Russian mercenaries - in an intense firefight in early February, The New York Times reports.
• None of the US troops were harmed, but hundreds of the pro-Syrian government forces were killed.
• The firefight took place at an outpost next to a Conoco gas station in eastern Syria on February 7.

Roughly 40 US commandos held off around 500 pro-Syrian government forces - including Russian mercenaries - in an intense firefight in early February, The New York Times reported.

The battle reportedly lasted four hours, and by the end, between 200 to 300 of the pro-Syrian government forces, loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, had been killed. According to interviews and documents obtained by The New York Times, all of the Americans involved in the bloody battle emerged unharmed.

Meanwhile, the Russian government claims only four of its citizens were killed in the battle, but other reports suggest dozens were killed.

The firefight took place at an outpost next to a Conoco gas station in eastern Syria, and a majority of the force the US commandos faced off with was reportedly comprised of Russian mercenaries thought to be linked to a company known as the Wagner Group.

When US military officials began to notice the massive force amassing near the outpost, they were reportedly nervous about a potential clash between Russian and US troops, which could have major geopolitical implications and even lead to a larger conflict between the two major powers.

Through surveillance of radio transmissions, the US discovered at least some of the Syrian force was speaking Russian, which stoked these fears. But the Pentagon contacted Russia and it did not claim the troops.

"The Russian high command in Syria assured us it was not their people," Defense Secretary James Mattis told senators in April. Mattis said he then directed Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for the pro-Syrian government force to be "annihilated."

"And it was," Mattis added.

The massive pro-Syrian government force also included Russian-made tanks and armored vehicles. When it attacked the outpost on February 7, the US commandos defending it faced a mixture of tank fire, large artillery, and mortar rounds.

Reaper drones, F-22 stealth fighter jets, F-15E Strike Fighters, B-52 bombers, AC-130 gunships, and AH-64 Apache helicopters ultimately came to the assistance of the US troops at the outpost, hitting the Syrian force hard from the air.

At first, the outpost was guarded by about 30 Delta Force soldiers and Rangers from the Joint Special Operations Command, but a team of marines and Green Berets eventually came to their aid as well. A small number of Kurdish and Arab forces, allied with the US, were also at the outpost.

Between attacks from the air and the fierce firefight on the ground, the pro-Syrian government forces ultimately retreated, though some of the force returned to collect their dead not long after the fighting ceased. None of the Americans were harmed, but one allied Syrian fighter was reportedly wounded.

The US has roughly 2,000 troops in Syria as part of its larger efforts to defeat the terrorist group ISIS. In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has considered taking US troops out of Syria, but the complicated array of factors surrounding the conflict there have led him to put this aside for the time-being.