Deir Ezzor, Syria. A group of Russian militiamen (the Russian army officially withdrew in December 2017) and Syrian government forces crossed the Euphrates and headed toward the Coneco oil plant, under Kurdish control. The U.S. Air Force intervened, resulting in over 300 deaths, over 200 of whom were Russians (mercenaries from Yevgeny Prigozhny’s private Russian company Wagner, a convicted felon in the United States), and the rest Hezbollah. This was the most serious direct military clash between Americans and Russians since Vietnam, or perhaps Korea.
