The outcome of the battle, and much of its mechanics, suggest that the Russian mercenaries and their Syrian allies were in the wrong part of the world to try a simple, massed assault on a US military position. The number of casualties from the 7 February fight is in dispute. The small team of US troops was not harmed. From their outpost, the commandos watched the mercenaries and Syrian fighters return to collect their dead. At least one Marine exposed himself to incoming fire as he used a missile guidance computer to find targets’ locations and pass them on to the commandos calling in the air strikes.Īn hour later, the enemy fighters had started to retreat and the US troops stopped firing.

Others remained in their trucks, using a combination of thermal screens and joysticks to control and fire the heavy machine guns affixed on their roofs.Ī few of the commandos, including Air Force combat controllers, worked the radios to direct the next fleet of bombers flying towards the battlefield.

Some of the Green Berets and Marines took aim from exposed hatches. A handful of Marines ran ammunition to machine guns and Javelin missile launchers scattered along the berms and wedged among the trucks.

New tank battle Syria