The United States carried out an air strike against Ba'athist pro-military troops, who attacked Deir ez-Zor on February 7 in Syria. Among those killed in the attack, it appeared that Russia had a mercenary team of 40 soldiers who were supporting the Syrian regime.

According to Conflict Independent Team [CIT] Russian research site 8 Russian identities have been reached, those who were killed on bombardment so far, while some Russian newspapers give the number of dead Russians 40. This confrontation has been described as the bloodiest encounter between the two forces since the cold war.

Conflict Intelligence Team suggests the soldiers those killed in the US' air strike were working for a mercenary of a Russian private security organization called the Wagner PMC, which has no official status.

In 2016, Fontanka.ru, an Internet research site based in St. Petersburg, describes the Wagner Group as "a military unit equipped with heavy infantry and armored vehicles but not officially". The Fontanka.ru report says that the Wagner Group, organized on the basis of "Slavic Unions", also operates in Crimea and Ukraine, but has been focusing on Syria since 2015.

On February 7, when the US carried out an air strike against the positions of groups close to the Syrian government near Hisham region, more than 100 people were reported to have killed. The American CBS television had included claims of Russian mercenaries among the dead.

The Russian government and the Ministry of Defense officials have neither confirmed nor denied the information so far. The claims of Russian mercenaries fighting in Syria have been expressed especially by Russian sources since 2015.

ILKHA