"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.
![A depression created on the road connecting the cities of Meizhou and Dapu became the site of the tragic event [AFP]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'100'%20height%3D'100'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "A depression created on the road connecting the cities of Meizhou and Dapu became the site of the tragic event [AFP]")
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 shadowy private army in Syria with the tacit assent of the Kremlin, which has also deployed Russian regulars to back Bashar al-Assad's regime.
President Donald Trump has nominated Pompeo to become Washington's top diplomat and his confirmation hearing came just as the White House mulls a strike to punish Assad for an alleged chemical attack.
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![33 passengers and one crew member died on the dive boat, Conception [Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/AP]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'300'%20height%3D'172'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "33 passengers and one crew member died on the dive boat, Conception [Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/AP]")
