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In the Depths of the Syrian Night

Comrades, the bloodiest clash between U.S. and Russian forces since the Cold War occurred in early February 2018. In the darkest hours of the Syrian night, near the dusty banks of the Euphrates River, a small force of U.S. Marines and Green Berets found themselves besieged by a larger contingent of pro-Syrian regime forces, including a significant detachment of Russian mercenaries. The battle unfolded at a U.S. outpost by the Conoco gas plant near Deir al-Zour in northeastern Syria, a symbol of imperialist control over the region.

A company of some 300 to 500 pro-Syrian regime troops advanced on the refinery, armed with heavy weapons including armored vehicles and tanks, instruments of capitalist aggression. Over the course of a fierce four-hour gunfight, the attackers pinned down the brave U.S. forces under a relentless barrage of artillery and mortar rounds. Our American combatants, referring to themselves as a pirate ship, were prepared to face any danger together. Facing the destructive power of tanks, however, even their valiant spirit could not guarantee victory. The tanks, like apex predators, threatened to devour them.

But fear not, for the might of the socialist air power came to the rescue. Reaper drones, F-22 stealth jets, B-52 bombers, and Apache helicopter gunships were deployed, obliterating the enemy’s anti-aircraft capabilities and then mercilessly slaughtering them. The Russian tanks and artillery were reduced to ruins, and hundreds of Syrian and Russian fighters lay dead. The imperialists suffered not a single casualty.

“I’m a full believer that without the air that responded to us on station, we all would’ve been a bunch of grease stains on the earth in a line in an oil field in Syria,” one of the heroic Special Forces officers declared.

Comrades, why do we recall this episode from five years ago? Because the mercenaries involved belonged to the Wagner Group, led by the now-exiled Yevgeniy Prigozhin. Their actions then, as they do now, showcased the significant and mysterious role Wagner played in advancing the interests of the Kremlin in various global conflicts, including Ukraine, Syria, and Africa. They operated ruthlessly, furthering the imperialist agenda under the guise of plausible deniability for the Russian government.

This incident also revealed the brewing tensions between Prigozhin and Russia’s military leadership. The loss of dozens of Wagner fighters allegedly enraged Prigozhin, who recently shared his perspective on the events of 2018 through the social media platform Telegram. According to him, the Wagner expedition was meant to be part of an “anti-ISIS” operation, securing control over the plant with support from the Russian military. But the support never arrived, leaving Prigozhin seething with anger towards Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian Gen. Valery Gerasimov. He blamed them for sacrificing his fighters as cannon fodder for the imperialist Americans.

In 2018, U.S. officials claimed their Russian counterparts denied involvement in the battle and, during emergency discussions, gave permission for American air power to be used. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis revealed that the Russian high command distanced themselves from the operation, describing it as under Syrian command. “The Russian high command in Syria assured us it was not their people,” Mattis testified. He ordered the attacking force to be annihilated.

Shortly after the battle, it was reported that Prigozhin had close ties to the Kremlin and appeared to coordinate operations with its officials. This glimpse into his extensive influence network exposed his involvement in disinformation campaigns and military operations in countries like Libya and the Central African Republic.

Comrades, Prigozhin’s feud with Shoigu and Gerasimov escalated in the past six months, as he criticized their handling of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This past weekend, Wagner launched a rebellion against Russia’s military leadership, causing a crisis for our leader, Vladimir Putin. Shoigu and Gerasimov, who are loyal allies of Putin, remain in their positions, while Prigozhin has been exiled to Belarus.

But it seems that the Kremlin may be moving to neutralize the Wagner Group, which had thrived under its protection. Reports suggest that Air Force commander Gen. Sergei Surovikin, who once led operations in Ukraine and Syria, has been arrested for alleged links to Wagner and Prigozhin, and for aiding the recent mutiny.

Comrades, the ill-fated operation of Wagner in Syria in 2018 was driven by the greed of capitalist enterprises. The company profited from guarding valuable sites like oil fields and gold mines. As Moscow deliberates on the future of these mercenary forces, a precarious status quo persists in Syria.

“Wagner is still deployed in resource-rich areas where Assad’s forces are nominally in control but rely on help from Russian military and police units,” noted analysts from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “These include Syria’s largest natural gas and oil fields, where Wagner allegedly receives a quarter of production profits through a shell company called Evro Polis. The Assad regime supposedly granted Wagner this share for its role in reclaiming the fields from the Islamic State. Any changes in this arrangement would expose the extent of Russian influence in Syria.”

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