Why US Troops Fought Wagner Mercenaries in Syria
Vložit
- čas přidán 24. 07. 2023
- What happened when a force of Wagner mercenaries faced off against elite US special forces operators in a proxy war in Syria in February 2018? What geopolitical concerns brought each side there in the first place? This event called the battle of conoco fields marks the first time Americans and Russians met in ground combat since an American Expeditionary Force was sent to Siberia during the 1917 Russian Civil War. We finally were able to observe how old Soviet horde tactics fared against modern U.S. tactics and weapon systems - and the results were surprising.
Written by: Chris Cappy and Patrick Griffin
Edited by: Michael Michaelides
To set the stage, In November 2015, the Obama administration first authorized the deployment of U.S. special forces inside Syria where a civil war had been raging since 2011. The goal was twofold to the publicly stated task of assisting local rebels in their battle against the terrorist organization ISIL and the less official goal of preventing Iran from having a clear route to smuggle weapons into Iraq while also protecting the oil field development. If the Iranian forces inside Syria were allowed to successfully take the town of al-Tanf, there would be a direct supply route link between Iran's capital of Tehran, Iraq’s capital of Baghdad and Syria’s capital of Damascus. US soldiers had a side quest mission to prevent this.
Only two months prior in September 2015 the Russian military intervened in Syria on the opposite side supporting the Assad Regime. Russia couldn’t afford to lose another ally in the middle east and preventing collapse would increase their influence in the region. Wagner had just been established one year prior in 2014 and an estimated 5,000 Wagner soldiers were sent to train, advise and coordinate Syrian forces. This is a job similar to what the US special forces are tasked with. At this point the Syrian government was widely perceived to be on a collision course for imminent collapse and unacceptable outcome for Russia.
In 2018, U.S. supported Kurdish and Arab fighters operating under the “Syrian Democratic Forces” (SDF) in the north eastern Syrian province of Deir el-Zour. The US controlled the territory east along the Euphrates river. Meanwhile, Russian Wagner Mercenaries, and Bashar al Asad’s Syrian forces supplemented with Iranian-armed militia groups, patrolled the west banks of the river. Life in this area is heavily concentrated along the river. Travel just a couple hundred meters away from either side of its banks and the terrain becomes an endless wasteland of sand.
Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @taskandpurpose
Task & Purpose is a military news and culture oriented channel. We want to foster discussion about the defense industry.
Email capelluto@taskandpurpose.com for inquires.
Russia gives a medal to its soldiers for surviving the US Military. How flattering
It's not really a big deal though. We give our soldiers participation medals also. The fact that they were pmc soldiers getting medals is something...... But also nothing.
Until there's an air defence system, you see how f**ked up US troops were.
its cute. 😂
Technically I think it’s Assad that gave them awards but your point still stands.
Lol right? The american army had to give up after 2 decades and join the Taliban in the end. 😂 who joins the Taliban? 😂😂
This incident was one of the cases where Prigozhin felt he was let down by rival generals/senior leaders at ministry of defense. When US called Moscow to inquire about the approaching Wagner convoy Russia literally disowned the convoy and that led for US Air Force to play video game style attack on them.
Banking on Russian brass just expecting the US to be caught completely off guard.
Not just that, ministry of defence also silently called off the air defence. It was straight up betrayal. And probably this forced wagners to buy own air defence systems.
Russia doesn't want these people back on Russian soil, it's the same reason Russia allowed tens of thousands of unvetted people to leave Russia into Syria to join ISIS
Keep making excuses for atrocities
Because the entire reason for Wagner's existence is for Russia to commit deniable crimes. If they had said these soldiers were theirs, and they had gone ahead and killed Americans, that would've caused retaliation and likely war.
Americans and Russians also battled during the Korean war. Some of the Mig fighter pilots were secretly soviet aviation aiding the koreans. It was a secret until it was declassified decades later. It was disscussed in documentaries.
He did say "" GROUND forces"" Sure USA and USSR Pilots fought each other in the AIR
@@indianastan I never said he was wrong.
Earlier this year Royce Williams, a Navy flyer who shot down four Soviet MiGs in Korea was awarded the Navy Cross.
Similarly, now American soldiers are "secretly" dying as part of the Ukrainian army.
bro Korea was another world war, AUstralians Russians Chinese British Scottish Canadians etcamericans koreans filipinos
That was absolutely brilliant insight. Thank you from Lancashire UK
Its not that the US couldnt have dealt with the SAM sites, especially having the F22 there. Its that the US knew the SAM sites belonged to Russia proper and didnt want to destroy them. Once they were turned off, then the US had a field day
Yeah he pointed that out in the end, it was either that or let our special forces die. If Russia didn't agree to shut down there anti-air defense then cruise missiles would have taken them out.
@@johndoh5182 Yep! Turn off your air defenses or we'll turn them off permanently😉.
Thanks for voicing what I was thinking. Cappy made it sound like we were at the mercy of the Russians, at least until he corrected himself in the last 2 mins, which was quite annoying. In fact, we probably TOLD the Russian that they needed to turn off their AA or we'd blow them up.
@@johndoh5182 At the time it was known that the USA and Russia were both present in syrian airspace, and were trying to co-exist in some way. News media had reported about non-firing shows of force and butting eachothers vehicles around. Wagner wasn't mentioned as much, they were "russian mercenaries" in large parts of the press. But it was sort of clear that the russian presence in Syria was more or less official. In the following days, the russian MoD kept denying everything.
Instead we got a show where a PMC and their trained locals haplessly tried to take on a national armed force plus allied locals. For me it was a show of why PMCs in modern high-intensity combat are grossly overrated. They can stick to low-intensity security roles, training, logistics and counterinsurgency. A few PMCs with tanks do not make an army.
@@johndoh5182 I don't think a company of Blackwater guys with their own trained local auxiliaries and a detachment of tanks would have done a much better job either, if they had somehow been sent to do the same that day.
Russia didnt even give Wagner a chance to pull out before turning off those air defenses. They practically sent them to their deaths
Prigozhin stated that a month or two before the attempted coup actually, it is not a secret anyway
russia wasnt there it was wagnar mostly consisting of local syrians dont listen to this bs and read up the REAL story troops didnt even engage in the field it was mostly howitzers 5 apaches and a ac130
Explains why Prigozhin hate the MOD.
Prigozhin said strike one against the ministry of defense.
@@samfisher9421i hate this bro vet commentary
"The battle of Conoco underscored the importance of air power and owning the night". Bravo!
Can’t be more proud of my American buddies. We Australian love American.❤❤❤❤❤
kings in arms
@@coyoteeffectit is 2024 now,I’d like to know how proud you all are now! 😂😂😂😂😂
And vice versa.
That's probably because you know that us Americans love Aussies:)
Even us cowboys in Oklahoma love Australia 🦘
I just wish you guys were allowed to own guns for self defense. I can't understand that.
Tragically, multiple Russian investigative journalists were assa...ehm...I mean, died totally-coincidental, unrelated, and explicable deaths following their attempts to research and publish information about this incident. Rest in Peace, Maksim Borodin, Orkhan Dzhemal, Alexander Rastorguyev, and Kirill Radchenko.
"Epsteined", I do believe may be the word your looking for.
Putin is so evil.
i think this list is a bit longer ...
This speaks to the bravery of those journalists, I’m sure they were well aware of the risks they take to find the truth and expose it.
@@robertp457this must be written near every journalist faculty in russia🌝
Lukashenko told Putin that Wagner wants to go on a trip to Poland HOW UTTERLY DELUSIONAL CAN THEY BE ? 🤣😂🤣
Poland has no military left to speak of and exteremely inefficient, slow and lenient political leadership.
@@piotrd.4850 100 Rubels deposited to your account. Good job comrade
they can go...but they will not come back!
@@piotrd.4850 for now all we can see is Syrian refuge that try to cross our border from Belarus but don't you worry we are preparing for this hybrid war ... ruska onuco
Nah man they are hoping to get another round of medals for any who survives.
You definitely did the best video on this incident. Your video is the only one that mentions turning off the air defense which changed everything
Great job dude, yourr commentary is flawless
When you get a patch or medal just for surviving, you know you took a proper a$$ whooping.
Sorry to hurt your feelings guys but only 15 pmc died in the incident most of them not directly from the strikes.Go check for yoursef if you don't believe.
@@bieber_and_dolikWhatever you say Ivan
@@bieber_and_dolik Post proof or delete your account.
@@bieber_and_dolikcopium
@@bieber_and_dolik Yeah. A guy who recruits foreigners and prisoners for his PMC is definitely going to tell the truth to you about how many of his contractors died.
I deployed to MSS Conoco a few years after that engagement. I've heard a couple of first hand accounts. A shame you didn't mention the artillery battery that supressed the tank collumn, pinning them down while air support was coming on station. One of the few times the US has used the m777 against an actual armored formation.
Did you fight for the freedom of the Syrian people or the interest of the oil corporation? Lol.
@@titaniumskunkogkush4365 The answer to your question is a firm YES!
yeah this video is missing soooo much info :(
They found out real quick what happens when you get between America and oil 🤣 Iran about to find out the same in Straight of Hormuz, 15 years from now we will see all the re-enactments of 100 anti ship missiles against a few Iranian Navy vessels🤣
@@danstotland6386 lol. I'm glad you figured out it was a trick question. Lol
That was a great breakdown. I kept thinking, "What about..." and you covered it all.
Very informative thank you
"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." - Napoleon Bonaparte.
I love that our last airstrike during this battle was from the B-52 which was completely a..."AND STAY OUT!" statement. :D
Funny how Russia ended pushing USA out of Syria in the end.
No doubt 😆
Sweet B-52’s !!!
The irony, since it's US fascism that got ZERO right to be there on the other side of the planet, ruining another country and trying to install an ISIS state (as usual miserably failing at that).
And stay out! 🤣🤌🤘🇺🇸
This shows the importance of combined arms. The Sf group might have been overwhelmed alone, but US military don’t fight alone😊
I'd like to know about the local allies. My impression was that the attack was against both a small special forces platoon and various local allies.
Yes america never fight alone still in trauma on vietnam war and to be more classy Withdrawal is the term in Afghanistan like racism they changed it to hate crime hahaha Fight CHINA alone not using Taiwan Fight Russia.prove to the world You are land of the brave ,,ifnotomit that unyournationalanthem fooling other countries to be alliedthen agreement is nxt haha fight for me
@@SusCalvinmore than likely Kurdish or pro Democratic Syrian forces
What are the USA doing in Syria? it's an invasion
Russia was invited by the legal government, the USA wasn't.
@@brianv1988 Democratic syrian is hard to define because it's an umbrella organization of a lot of rebel groups. I know some of them have been pushed back under turkish protection, in their buffer zone up in northern Syria. al-Assad might be able to retake cities near the coast with russian help, but he and the russians are not keen on ousting actual foreign armed forces. There's a standoff between the turkish army and their syrian proxies and the forces of the syrian-arab state with occasional yearly skirmishes.
Keep up the good content, you always have something interesting.
Russia: we have no troops in the area
America: we can confirm that statement 😅
I would wager that part of the reason they had to wait for Russian AA systems to be disabled was because they couldn’t attack the AA without starting another incident
He states that they would of had have been hit with cruise missiles
Indeed, Either way those Wagnerites were dead. It was just a question of will the russians be dumb enough to say that the attacking force includes russians and they won't turn the air defence systems off and force us to blow them up, or will they shut them down and let us sort it out without a wider conflict.
Nothing gets past you, huh?
Yeah, I note F-35s weren’t involved, which I bet were standing by for SEAD and DEAD ops if Russia confirmed it was them and refused to back down.
Well it would break both agreement. Russia can't directly attack US or Israel and NATO and vice versa
This whole incident was so under-reported, at first it seemed like a rumor. All this time I’ve wondered “why??” The best i could come up with was Wagner would get a bonus if they could embarrass the US and it couldn’t be traced to Putin. The oil field explanation makes sense, but they were crazy to think we would take this lying down.
This happened in 2018 when Trump was president. I think it was because the media in the US were invested in the Russian-collusion narrative, so Trump blowing up Russians would undermine that.
It was under reported because Trump didn't want to criticize his boss. When Putin monitoring the elections saw Trump was losing , I'm sure HE ordered Trump to vacate the Syrian bases. Trump is owned by Putin!
The USA has no business being in Syria, it is an invasion of a sovereign country
Russia was invited by the legal government.
Crazy to think that you would take them fulfilling the will of the incumbent president of Syria lying down?😅
If it was widely reported the US public might have asked too many questions about what we were doing invading yet another country (Syria).
My Nephew was one of the Marines involved in this little spat. He said he only went through 1000 rounds on his 240.
How many rounds do they carry? I guess every person carries a little MG ammo so one guy doesn't have to carry it all.
Lmao 1000 rds is a basic load. So he went black on ammo.
Awesome informative video. Thanks
The most interesting thing is that by turning of the AA russia betrayed their inofficaly supported Wagner troops to maintain deniability. So that also partly explains the current tensions with Wagner.
They had to turn them off. Once the Russian MoD responded that they had no troops any active SAM systems would have been suspected as being Syrian or Iranian violating the RoE/MOU so they could have been struck w/o repercussion.
That doesn't necessarily make sense, the aircraft could have needed to approach across the Syrian territory.
I dont remember 100% where I read or saw this(im sure I can find it again if people want a source), but to keep it short, according to said source this incident was what made prigozhin angry versus russian MoD.prigozhin and parts of wagner allied with some syrian warlord and they made a push for said ressources/refinery. the us command called the russians up and asked them are these your guys?and they said no they are not. this would very well combine with turning the AA off(I didnt know about this until now)
They ignored the warning shots and tried to wait out the predator strikes cause they’re probably used to us falling back when the higher ups aren’t involved. Russian gov did not communicate to them and thats why they didn’t know it was different this time. Maybe cause they didn’t want to be recorded communicating with them? That’s why Wagner boss was pissed at Putin?
@@schuschnix5261This would also lead to a major push for heavy equipment acquisition by Wagner as well as kitting out and training an artillery unit specifically for counterbattery operations. The effectiveness of the Wagner counterbattery has been cited as one of the major differences that Ukrainians noticed between Wagner forces and the Russian regulars as a source of significant difficulties that Ukraine faced trying to hold Bakhmut.
The most amazing thing to me about this story is the command and communication by the US. The list of different units was amazing, Green Berets, Delta Force, Marines, armour, air force, and this is all handled by a central command. Not sure that the general public realises how amazing this is.
Very true. All the military might in the world won't win a war if it is never in the right place at the right time shooting in the right direction. It is boring and unglamorous but logistics, communication, and organization win wars more so than having the biggest gun.
They don’t. But the ones of us who do, love it.
@@Michael-ow1pv I carried a 77 set on my back and lucky if I could talk to Bn HQ, so it's all a bit sci-fi to me.
The US friendly fire debacle in Granada was the incident that caused the US to redesign its C3 (as it was known at the time)
The european NATO forces try to reach that level of command when task forces can include several different european nations.
The Russian AAA was only a disadvantage in this instance because we weren't actively looking to destroy them, that would have been a direct attack from the U.S. against Russia. If we needed them gone by any means necessary, they would've ceased exsistance. But Russia was forced to lower them at the risk of admiting collaboration with the attack.
Yup, as has been made very visible in Ukraine. If Russian air defence is wanted gone, it's quite easy to do just that with advanced weaponry.
@@neolad So Ace Combat lied to me? Where is the MiG-25 Foxbat or the SU-57 or the SU-69? :( No dogfights
@@TheWorldsOkayestUSMarine
Dogfights are a thing of the past. Nowadays missiles are launched from a large distance and guided into the target. That's how Russians fight the Ukrainian Air Force: They launch a long range radar guided air to air missile from safe airspace towards Ukrainian jets, which leads to mission kills or kills. Unfortunately right now we didn't send anything which counters this and most likely it will take until the next year for them getting the capability to do something against this. Other than destroying the planes on the air fields using drones or missiles of course.
So WHY was the US ILLEGALLY in Syria? LEt me guess....to STEAL OIL
@@ThePandafriendyou can find videos of dogfights over Ukraine. They are pretty rare nowadays but do still happen.
Great video.
Keep up the good work.
👍👍👍
"I died for oil" is the most anticlimactic epitaph ever.
In the grand scheme of things, most soldiers die for strategic resources. Even in ww2, Germany and Japan fought to gain territory with resources they needed
@@globaladdict Except the two big players are nuclear armed....
Oil is needed for our lives.
@@fertilerevitilizer7833 what else do you need in life genius? Do you go around stealing it?
@@titaniumskunkogkush4365 dying for oil is dying for life
I think one thing that didn't get enough attention is what you mentioned at the end. The US actually had multiple options to deal with the advancing Russian armor, and the fact that they turned off air defenses is just the best outcome. it's not that the US was powerless without the Russians turning off their air defense, it's that the alternatives meant an escalation. when we are talking about using this battle as a test bed for the different tactics, we're always doing it assuming that there's going to be an open conflict, and we won't have to go back and forth about well that'll escalate this or something. and as soon as we take the escalation factor off the table, more options open up as you mentioned. we could have used cruise missiles, and launched them earlier while they were still preparing rather than right as they were attacking, we could have used some of the planes on the back line to launch air-to-ground missiles potentially outside of air defense range in order to allow the Air Force in, or we could have gone with long-range missiles only, or we could have swarmed them with drones... The list goes on but it shows that both sides were constrained by the geopolitics and so this maybe isn't the parallel that others say it is.
Bullseye!
Haha I think you're being rather optimistic and fantastical here in your evaluation of the options 😅
@@TheduckwebcomicsHow’s that exactly?
@@Theduckwebcomicsplease elaborate. Are you doubting America's military power, adaptability, and tactics?
If russia wouldn't have turned them off, the usa would have turned them off for them in order to take care of the soldiers holding the objective. And would have dealt with the concequences later.
Thank you sir for nice explanation 🙏👍️
Awesome video my dude
Why 0 mention of the artillery from the marines ? Played a huge role
Artillery is nowadays the most effective and cost-efficient weapon. But it isn't fancy enough to attract normies' attention.
Is artillery now considered the bass player of the military? Extremely necessary for structure yet completely forgotten in reflection videos?
@@JAnx01until u talk about shells with GPS or mine laying shells
@@longforgotten4823 probably cuz it's so old. We associate it with the same family as field cannons from the 1600s lol so it's not flashy and cool like modern tech
He doesn't seem to want to answer your question.......
The results weren't surprising at all. The US has spent the GDP of smaller countries creating the most lethal hardware possible, and most 9f it was specifically made to rival what russia claimed its weapons could do. When Wagner used russian tactics and hardware to fight the US, an entire cold war's worth of intensive R&D came to bear on them with predictable results.
The gap was not that big during the Cold War. It is like the US has become Goku in DBZ. The gap keeps increasing.
@@andersonandrighi4539 Lol, the gap was that big during the Cold War. We didn't realize it, but the Soviets never stood a chance.
@@StrawHat83 and yet they only succeeded because the russians turn of the air defense systems... if western tactics were that effective the russians wouldnt be hable to do what they are doing in ukraine. im not defending the russians i hate them war criminals, its just you guys are underestimating their capabilities. As for example, ukrainians are using more artillery shells around 7000 in a day than US can produce in a month, the russians there are reports they are using more than 50k a day, the difference is giant
@@StrawHat83 soviets couldve steamrolled the Allies at the end of ww2. But it soon lost its advantage as the US just became a technological powerhouse.
@@eastern_fox1238I highly doubt they coulda "steam rolled"
“Protecting the oil fields” i.e. *stealing the oil*
Ты прав
@@RusborzoiRussia are experts at theft.
This mission was the definition of "fuck around and find out"
Wow, Russia *really* left Wagner out to dry. I hadn't realized they had SAMs covering the area that they *turned off* to let the USAF in without contest.
Problem is, it's an escalation that can lead into war. It's more of a question of, "Is this really worth going to WW3 over?"
You really want us all to die, don't you? In WW3 no one is a "winner"
This story never gets old 😊
Same as LOTR, Harry Potter and other works of fiction.
Yeah I know. Bullsh!t stories like this stink for a long time.
@@tomoh160cope
@@yeshuamaure8039Russian bot 🤡
@@yeshuamaure8039the interviews with the surviving Wagner forces are fake then too
Great explanation on the issue.
Just found your channel and subscribed great videos and very informative
The fact that Russia and Wagner PMC didn't learn a damn thing from this speaks volumes to me.
To be fair to them they fought they would win this battle because they thought we would abandon the kurds just like we did in northern syria when Turkey invaded
They were wrong but they thought they would be right with Ukraine, they were wrong again
@@AT-AT26 They didn't stay for the Kurds, they stayed to protect the refinery. If there wasn't any oil in Syria and Iraq, the US wouldn't be there.
Syria was practice for them, the same tactics are being used in ukraine today
@@themog4911 yeah, the Kurds definitely learnt that when Trump moved those troops from northern Syria to the southern refineries
@@AT-AT26 It's exactly why I'm content with my country joining NATO. I wouldn't wager the lives of my countrymen on our neighbor's sense of morality and common sense.
The problem wasn´t that russian air defence was active. I would say the problem was that US troops couldn´t attack russian air defence positions directly. That´s the reason Wagner is so useful. You can attack without direct russian gouvernement involvement.
That’s the job of any PMC, plausible deniability, that’s what BlackWater is for in the US.
@@w7lvesBlackwater is no where near the scale of Wagner, their duties are primarily security not military.
This conflict played out like a movie ... wow ... great doc. !
thank you
A heartwarming bedtime story to tell to my children.
I would argue that the Russian anti air was more a diplomatic problem than a military one.
If the US went in and the Russians shot at one of ours that could escalate into a war.
There is no way that the US didn't know it was in the area, and didn't have a countermeasure for it.
They either shut em down or they don't exist any more. The f 22's were out there for a reason.. no way they were gonna let all those special force soldiers get overrun and killed... Could you imagine the outrage of the American people they were all killed or taken prisoners?
I was an AWACS crewmember. We knew what was there.
u missed the point US asked russia are their forces attacking ... russia answered that they are not involved ... and turned off AA to avoid problems with US
You're acting as if countermeasures give planes some kind of a God mode.
@@JAnx01 Countermeasures no, US AWACS yes
I feel like it's kind of weird that it wasn't mentioned once through all of this that the US military controls huge oil extraction operations in its occupied areas of Syria.
I guess the question is who actually gets the oil. Is it the US Government or some US company, or is it the various Syrian rebels?
I'll go ahead and explain it to you. It's not weird, it's a beneficial position for the USA. Why mention the obvious? For example, is it helpful that I point out how naive your question is? All countries spend money on projects that will ultimately benefit them.
Best. Analysis. Ever.
US: “Hey Russia, I think some of your guys have cross the river into our AO.”
Russia: “No, there’s no Russians there, teehee”
US: “Say less.”
Russia: “Wait, no”
Lmaoooo
MoD hates Wagner, so whoever told the US diplomat 'there are no Russian solders in that group', was smiling and putting his fingers together like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons as he watched USAF turn Wagnerites and their allies into paste.
😂😂😂
Russia don't give af if some mercs get smoked.
The audio transcripts are somewhere here on YT. Thats basically how it went. Once we brought hell upon them, Russia asked us to stop lol
Kinda sucks that this was Delta instead of devgru. If it had been the seal pups, we'd know a lot more because of the 15 books they would have written by now.
Actually Delta operators put out a lot, including the founder of Delta Force, Charlie Beckwith. Which I recommend anyone who wants to figure out how to get into Delta to read
Lol. They BOTH be writing.
It’s amazing how many conflicts our Country’s involved in at all times and most of them barely get any mentions
They get plenty of mention, just not in western media. Just look at the narrative spinning we saw during the election and over the Ukraine war. Half our country still doesn't know the Ukraine had 8 years of a civil war before Russia moved in.
We won't hear about several engagements until years after they happen, that's normal. You can compare this to current ukrainian special operation sabotage crews, we will not know where they are or what they're doing until it's done and dust settled.
I was in Syria at the time in KLZ, i remeber higher ups briefed us on the attack, told us to anticipate a possible retalitory attack.
Something I was curious of at the time was the US allies. The USA was and is supporting a variety of local groups and were practically hosted by the YPG.
When this hit the news, my impression was that a US special forces platoon, local allies and some massive US fire support had beaten back a mixed troop of russian mercenaries and russian-allied locals and that the russian command had decided not to risk confronting US air power.
Clearly if f-22's responded, America had a plan even if air defense was active!
🇺🇸
Exactly, if the AA was active the F-22 would have just gone "yahh that don't work on me" and then hit its target
@@dogguy8603but F-22s can't carry A2G ordinance right? It was designed for air superiority, not ground pounding. The F-35 would've been a better choice to send in this situation but.. I dont know if any were stationed there
@@yayeetmeoffacliff4708 They spent a couple billion giving it A2G capability by around 2011. As for whether using F-22's would've been worth the cost to US taxpayers compared to other means available, well...
@@dogguy8603
It would have been like the USS Wisconsin. See that hill over there? It is now a hole
Yup. It would just laugh, and send the AA missile systems into scrap metal.
a very fair read on the situation
I earned a BA in History, and an MA in Geography: in a realm where any "schlub" is free to share whatever they wish, your analytics ring true, they are rich in logic & facts, and they consistently pan out with resonant, integrative information! Kudos❤
Definitely earned my like. Excellent work, interesting, well researched and laid out in an concise and engaging way so that anyone can understand and take in the whole story, background and all. All of your stuff is good. This was some of your best work. I feel like I learned lot.
This fit nicely that US will loose if it comes war against Russia 🇷🇺 in weeks no doubt.
I think it's more of minimizing escalation as the main factor in US forces not disabling Russia's anti-air systems rather than lacking the capability to
Wagnerserinian Obliteration. Your motivation breakdown makes sense. You didn't mention it in this vid,, but Wagner has made similar moves in Africa where it's seized or been "given" gold (and diamond, I think) mines.
Fantastic use of that Sunny clip 👌
The funeral part hit way to close to to home. My uncle died in Iraq and I’m not one of Putins bots but I feel like we can all agree war is hell and no man, woman, or child should have to go through it.
Meh
Speaking of funerals, dare you to look up "ukrainian nazi funeral" to see how they still wear swastikas and the ww2 uniforms to bury the dead fighting for ukraine.
@@Tacos888Fool 🤡
Amen. It is just greed. To take foreign countries natural resources. Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, all over Central and South America puppet governments US imposed
With all do respecrt to your uncle and many like him! Male and Female alike! Nobody can underestimate the passion of many (mark words) .Many U.S personnel. Certianly your uncle is included in that declaration as one of our many! However, his memory is being betrayed by our current government. You call me whatever you feel. This is my belief . This man is a propagandist!
Awesome analysis, great work!
Conoco is an American oil company, pronounced Ca-ni-co in Texas.
“Protected by the Americans”
Funniest joke ever 😂😂😂
Excellent content, Chris. Well done.
Excellent as always, brother.
I love your break downs of these conflicts. Praise God for you brother.
Foreign mercenaries have no chances against an organized military with air support.
Thanks for explaining this complex and fascinating situation in a way I can understand. Great video 💯
Very fascinating story of how US invaded Syria. And now crying about Russian invasion of Ukraine 😐
It took a while to mention that the U.S. did not *want* to attack and/or electronically suppress Russian air defenses, as that would be an act of war. Until that point the video could come across as suggesting a fundamental inability to act due to the presence of the SAMs, when the real problem with regards to air access that night was deconfliction.
Here is the thing. If Wagner would attack, it would be declaration of the war on US. Russia didn't have other option then disown them. Refusal would lead to real shit show.
13:38 had me WHEEZING. Keep up the great content, Cappy
Awesome video. Thank you. God Bless America🙏
Always a good informative story from the T&P crew well done gentlemen, well done!
As a Mission Crew Commander Air Battle Manager on AWACS, we could have shut down the air defense if we wanted to.
I was a CDMT and flew two deployments there. Yes we could have but would we really want to get into a bigger spat with Russia over Syria?
stories told by north-americans are always like hollywood, although reality is always a tragedy for them
@@MarcusSantAnnaI'm sure your life is a tragedy.
@@MarcusSantAnnaYeah it’s a real tragedy for the Wagner that got atomised alright
Go ahead and start WW3
Interesting 🤔 video 😊
This is well-contrived information plus great imagery to boot.
"Battle of Khasham" is another name for this 2018 battle.
The Der Spiegel report is called "American Fury: The Truth About the Russian Deaths in Syria"
5:18 "Special Forces Soldiers Reveal First Details of Battle With Russian Mercenaries in Syria" by The War Horse is the name of that May 2023 article.
I am just here for the Russian Bots saying “How sad the US Military had to use so many assets against so little opponents”. Only to applaud Russias use of Assets on Grain and Civilians.
Well...disproportinate response works.
@@piotrd.4850american air power go BRRRR
Yeah like attacking 30+ lightly armed and armored ground troops with an armored column is proportionate lol.
@@SavageHenry777First of all, they had no idea there were US forces in the area and secondly the area was held by jihadi terrorists that the US trained and armed.
How have the HARM or HIMARS missiles been performing in Ukraine? XD
We, Kurds never will forget US helps and US troops help and brotherhood, hope someday we can help you back too.
Thank to all American troops who fought along side us and rest in peace those who unfortunately lost theire lives🙏❤️
With you Kurds ✌️🇺🇸
Kurds can repay their debt to america by encouraging homosexuality among the young and trangenederism.. the more gay and lesbian kurds the better you repay your debt.. and do not forget to change gender of young boys and girls.. live long amerika and the kurds
Respect to the Kurds from the US
WOW! American heroes again fought 1 vs 100 Russians and won. Thanks Rembo for the lessons.
The Air Force dropped half their annual budget that day
Which only goes to show you the power of Russian shovels and that without it's air force, American combat doctrine completely and utterly falls apart.
More like a days worth
@@VunderGuysure, but does Russia really have the capability to deny American air dominance? I'll answer for you, no, no they don't.
@@VunderGuy that’s why we have the two biggest air forces in the world.
@@VunderGuywow almost like not using your Air Force is a sign of incompetence 🤠👍🏾
Perhaps the Russian Ministry of Defense really did not know about Wagner's plans and was convinced that there were no Russians on the ground
The results were anything but surprising.
These guys make me proud to be an American…..American vet❤
Thank you for your sevice❤
Top notch content as always 👌
Let me fix that title for you "How US Air Support Smoked Wagner Mercs in Syria"
You want a good whataboutism counter argument? Just look what's happening in Ukraine to western mercs. It's funny how you people brag and are entertained about old glorious war stories taking on weak opponents.
i think "how united states military waged illegal incursion into Syria" is more appropriate
great Video! as someone that grew up in the shadows of the petroleum industry I would like to suggest that Conoco might be pronounced as "Con" as in convict "O" as in old and "Co" as in cold. It stands for Continental Oil Company named back in the late 1800's. Thank yiu and Semoer Fi.
US military : Power Rangers
Russia (wagner) : just one monster
There were no M2 Bradleys in Syria until 2020, most US vehicles outside the wire where MaTV's, older max pro mraps, LMTVs, and occasionaly up armored humvees, only the special forces/ state department drove toyota puck up trucks and suvs. There were some images of strykers also being used in Syria.
Its fake news
@@arunasmitrofanovas789someone is sad ruzzkie got wiре out by US 😂😂😂 even ruzzkie claimed it happen 😂
Yeah I don't get what Cappy is smoking.. it's been a known conflict, we know what our US forces used yet he's saying armored vehicles... I mean MRAPS fine LIGHT vehicles but not IFVs... I don't get why these CZcamsr's try to sell themselves as genuine then have these bits of footage here and there that have nothing to do with the conflict or show vastly different units than was really there.
@@hawk9mmat 7:55 he says .50 cal machine guns remotely controlled from their six armored vehicles, it is very likely he is talking about MRAP's using the CROWS system. Not heavily armored, but armored enough to stop rifle rounds
@@ghostly6175 Oh I'm aware but again kept showing IFVs and called them heavy armored vehicles. I get that they can stop rifle rounds but they are not stopping even a BMP round.
History by Cappie. I like! More please.
The bush 2 administration is the gift that just keeps giving.
Thanks for posting this. Interesting the US had no TOW weapon systems on the ground.
It's been obvious to me what Russia has been up to since I saw the very first pictures of "non-affiliated" (obviously VDV) troops in Ukraine brazenly wearing Shadow Bekas camo in 2014. As a child of Cold War refugees, I felt an immense sense of patriotism when I saw the video of the Wagnerites getting obliterated and heard the leaked complaints over comms of the Russians panicking about how superior our forces are. It never gets old.
I feel immense disgust as an American as my countrymen and military are being used for elites profits and nefarious means. I mean after all we are occupying a third of syria for more than a decade at this point completely illegally.
Сейчас на Украине не одну тысячу американцев уничтожили и продолжают уничтожать, я испытал безмерное чувство патриотизма
@@palachzkmsk292Even if that was remotely true(which it’s not) how many are the Russians up to , 200,000? Lol at this rate by 2025 the Syrians will be protecting Russia. Good grief, keep it up your comrades are doing great bud.
@@palachzkmsk292heroes
Bots commenting above ^^^
Wow. Some of the chatter from the media touched on this but it was vague and usually somewhat obscure. This is a great summary of what essentially happened and what was going on behind the scene. Thank you for your work.
Probably didn't have a full picture then, and had no real reason to follow-up since nothing else happened.
Heartily agree, informative and entertaining. Thank you.
At the time, it was known that Russia and the USA were both flying in syrian airspace. And that they both were doing some sort of weird dance around eachother to test eachothers limit without starting a full confrontation. The russian air force were taking part in the string of brutal urban sieges the al-Assad regime was conducting to retake cities.
@@SusCalvin Yep. That was my limited understanding at the time... It may also have been the media's limited understanding of it at the time.
@@johnnycaps1 I think the sieges of much larger urban centers stole much of the attention. There was no US no-fly zone over the entire syrian territory, and al-Assad seemed fine with pushing back different rebel pockets with outside help from Iran, Russia and Hezbollah. An oil field is pretty important but large pockets of rebels holding a big city like Homs or Aleppo is more important.
In the EU, refugees became the big news as the war kept going year after year. It didn't start right off, I think it wore on over a period of years.
I loved how Prigozhin managed to weasel his way into history. He followed in Napoleon's and Hitler's steps when he marched on Moscow. How cool is that.
It's nice to finally see more channels covering this battle.
A large part of their "bad aim" would most likely be their trying to maintain the asset.
If they damaged the facility they would need to REPAIR the facility, they most likely wanted to scare them away and make them abandon the facility intact.
That's right baby😘 Tell yourself whatever you need to in order to cope
My question to all viewers after hearing his explanation, who’s the bad one between Wagner and the USA Army?
What a nice story of kind US marines saving Syrian oil from Syrian people! Applause 👏
It was a humanitarian mission to save Syrians from their economic benefits
This channel mastered narrating stories in a way that makes you feel you uncover the mystery yourself. Thank you!👏
This fit nicely that US will loose if it comes war against Russia 🇷🇺 in weeks no doubt.
Interesting to hear the full story behind this incident. Always just heard the over simplified "Russians attacked and got blown to bits" version.
This story is bunch of BS exaggerated and spun completely. A bunch of Syrian light infantry (and their Russian instructors) were thinking they were clearing similar ISIS light infantry and got attacked instead by US attack helos and drones. So strong. I mean i understand that US simply steals Syrian land and oil, but then they pretend they get some major victory by massacring some light infantry who were equipped to fight only a similar lightly armed foe? Yikes. The casualties were not even 200, that is just a rounded propaganda number.
This fit nicely that US will loose if it comes war against Russia 🇷🇺 in weeks no doubt.