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What happened near Khasham in February 2018?
Summary
A look back at reports on the assault near Khasham in Deir ez-Zor and the US strikes that followed, as they stood on 9 February 2018.
What had happened in eastern Syria in the days before 9 February 2018? Reports from 7 and 8 February pointed to a deadly clash in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate that drew in Russian private military contractors.
According to the reports, a force of five hundred Syrian pro-government troops, supported by tanks and artillery, launched a ground assault on a local headquarters of the Syrian Democratic Forces near the town of Khasham. The battle left more than one hundred Syrian government fighters dead, among them Russian contractors of the Wagner Group.
The account from the United States side was dated 7 February. United States Central Command said it had killed more than 100 pro-government troops in what it called "self-defense" strikes. It placed them 8 kilometres (5 miles) east of the Euphrates de-confliction line, which had reportedly been agreed with Russia.
The two sets of reports described the same area and similar casualty figures, and together they showed a ground attack on Syrian Democratic Forces positions answered by American firepower beyond the line reportedly agreed with Moscow.
