MILITARY/RUSSIA/SYRIA: “Four Russian nationals, and perhaps dozens more, were killed in fighting between pro-government forces in eastern Syria and members of the United States-led coalition fighting the Islamic State, according to Russian and Syrian officials.
A Syrian military officer said that about 100 Russian soldiers had been killed in the fighting on Feb. 7 and 8, but news about Russian casualties has dribbled out only slowly, through Russian news organizations and social media.
American forces came under attack on those two days, near Al Tabiyeh, Syria. ‘Coalition officials were in regular communication with Russian counterparts before, during and after the thwarted, unprovoked attack,’ according to Col. Ryan S. Dillon, a spokesman for the American military. ‘Russian officials assured coalition officials they would not engage coalition forces in the vicinity.’
Colonel Dillon said the military was not aware of any direct United States strike on Russian forces. He said the toll from the two days of fighting was not yet clear… The Kremlin — seeking to play down its involvement in the fighting in Syria and seemingly hoping to avoid escalating tensions with the United States — has sidestepped questions about the episode.
It has stressed repeatedly since last Wednesday that no members of the Russian armed forces were killed, and that any Russians fighting alongside the Syrians were mercenaries.”
-Neil MacFarquhar and Thomas Gibbons-Neff, “Dozens of Russians Are Believed Killed in U.S.-Backed Syria Attack,” The New York Times online, Feb. 13, 2018