Pompeo says ‘a couple hundred’ Russians killed in US-led Syria clash
Washington — On Thursday, the outgoing head of the CIA appeared to confirm reports that about 200 Russian mercenaries were killed in February during a clash with US-led forces in Syria. "In Syria, a handful of weeks ago, the Russians met their match and a couple hundred Russians were killed," Mike Pompeo said, during a Senate hearing on his nomination to become US secretary of state. Pompeo did not go into more detail, but media reports have suggested that Russian mercenaries working for the so-called "Wagner Group" were involved in the February battle. Russia acknowledged at the time that five of its citizens had died when US-led coalition forces working alongside Kurdish militia called in air support to repulse an attack by Syrian regime forces. Washington said the coalition had killed at least 100 "pro-regime" forces and a group of Russian investigative bloggers established the identity of dozens of named Russian fatalities. Multiple reports have suggested Wagner operates a shado...
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