Details of the death of a general in Syria. Why did a Russian general die in Syria? Only officially confirmed losses

As a result of a point hit by a mine launched by militants banned in Russia defending in Syrian Deir ez-Zor, a senior military adviser to the Russian Defense Ministry in Syria was killed. According to the RIA Novosti agency, citing a representative of the Ministry of Defense, the lieutenant general will be posthumously presented with a high state award.

“The senior group of Russian military advisers, Lieutenant General V. Asapov, was at the command post of the Syrian troops, assisting the Syrian commanders in managing the operation to liberate the city of Deir ez-Zor. As a result of a sudden mortar attack by ISIS militants, Lieutenant-General Valery Asapov was mortally wounded by a mine explosion, ”the military department told the agencies.

She reported death. Her source said that the general and two colonels were the victims of mortar fire on the command post on accurate guidance. Another interlocutor of the radio station at the headquarters of the 5th Army added that Lieutenant General Asapov has not been in touch since 16:00 on Saturday. According to him, under the mortar fire of the militants, not only the general, but also two colonels were killed. The fire was conducted on the exact tip. Mina landed straight into the command post.

A Gazeta.Ru source familiar with the situation confirmed the information about the death of the general.

Valery Asapov commanded the parachute regiment of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Abkhazia in 2001, was also the commander of the 37th separate guards motorized rifle brigade of the 36th combined arms army, and finally led the 5th combined arms army of the Eastern Military District with the rank of lieutenant general . In 2013 he became a Commander of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree.

Militants of the terrorist group "Islamic State" banned on the territory of Russia daily fire at the quarters of Deir ez-Zor, which is now being liberated by the Syrian army with the support of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

Earlier on Sunday, September 24, a quarter of the city of Bhelie was fired upon by militants from mortars. reported that their correspondent had been hit. As a result of a mine explosion, glass was broken and the body of the car was damaged. The correspondent at the time of the shelling was next to the car, along with officers of the Syrian army.

The shelling took place a couple of kilometers from the southern entrance to the city. Terrorists covered with fire the place where two grocery stores are located. There are no military or civilian casualties as a result of this shelling.

On Thursday, September 21, four people were killed by IS mortars and more than ten civilians were hospitalized with shrapnel wounds in various parts of their bodies.

In early September, two soldiers from Russia were killed in Syria when IS militants fired on a motorcade of the Russian Center for Reconciliation in the province.

“While following in the province of Deir ez-Zor, a car convoy was subjected to mortar fire by ISIS terrorists. As a result of the shelling, one Russian serviceman was killed, another was seriously injured, ”the Ministry of Defense reported.

The Russian Defense Ministry published on Friday, September 22, data on the effectiveness of the participation of the Russian military in the operation in Syria. According to this statistic

since 2015, with the support of Russia, almost 87.4% of the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic has been liberated.

2,235 settlements have joined the ceasefire regime, Russian aircraft carried out 30,650 sorties, carried out 92,006 air strikes, and hit 96,828 targets of the Islamic State terrorist organization.

At the moment, the main fighting is taking place in the area of ​​​​the city of Deir ez-Zor - the last "bastion" of ISIS terrorists. The capture of Deir ez-Zor will mean the end of the organized resistance of the Islamic State militants. The fighting in Deir ez-Zor is being carried out by government forces with the support of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

The circumstances of the death of Russian Lieutenant General Valery Asapov in Syria have become known. According to the Telegram channel "Herald of Damascus", the reason for the shelling of the command post, where the military adviser was located, was treachery.

Asapov took an active part in managing the operation to liberate the province of Deir ez-Zor. According to published data, on September 23, volunteer units of the Katarzhi brothers retreated from the command post of the Syrian army in the midst of the battle, after which ISIS terrorists opened heavy fire on it.

The administration of the "Herald of Damascus" suggests that it was the fighters of the paramilitary detachment who gave the radicals the exact coordinates of this object, where the Russian lieutenant general was at that moment.

Valery Asapov for several months participated in organizing the offensive operations of the Syrian army. He was at the forefront, demonstrating courage and heroism. Probably, the terrorists set out to kill the Russian military, thanks to which a number of important operations were carried out.

It has not been officially confirmed whether the detachment of the Katarzhi brothers really collaborated with the terrorists, but the fact remains that they left their positions, abandoning their allies. The units of the Syrian army, to be frank, have been behaving in the same way lately - they are cowardly, waiting for something, retreating, thereby giving the terrorists the opportunity to strengthen their positions.

The government forces of the SAR are clearly forgetting that the province of Deir ez-Zor has a large number of oil and gas fields, which are vital for the restoration of the Syrian economy. Therefore, it is in their interests to clear this region of militants as quickly as possible.

As is known, Russian volunteers and military specialists, who are actively supported by the Aerospace Forces, take part in the crossing of the Euphrates River and the battles on its left bank. The operation is led by advisers from the Russian Federation. Our compatriots are selflessly fighting the militants of the terrorist caliphate, which cannot be said about the Syrian units.

According to political analyst Alexander Asafov, the command of the Syrian army is overly cautious and slow in making cardinal decisions. Instead of moving forward without hesitation, the SAA units stand in one place. This can indeed result in the loss of key oil fields that other parties to the conflict are targeting.

The Syrians should not rely on the allies to do all the work for them. Russian Aerospace Forces, military advisers and volunteers courageously and successfully resist the terrorists, but without the active assistance of the SAA, the operation in the province of Deir ez-Zor could drag on for months.

In Syria, Lieutenant General Valery Asapov, who served as commander of the 5th combined arms army of the Russian Armed Forces, whose headquarters is located in Ussuriysk, died. The information that the general, seconded to the Middle East as a senior group of Russian military advisers in the government Syrian Arab army, was at the command post of the Syrian troops and was fatally wounded when he came under mortar fire, appeared on Sunday evening, September 24. RIA Novosti, for example, at 9:42 p.m. posted a message citing the Russian Ministry of Defense that Asapov "assisted the government armed forces in managing the operation to liberate Deir ez-Zor."

On Sunday, but nine hours earlier, at 12.13 on his American Facebook page The Russian Ministry of Defense posted aerial photographs“ISIS deployment areas north of Deir ez-Zor”, taken from September 8 to 12. Specialists of the Russian military department recorded on aerial photographs "a large number of American Hammer-type armored vehicles in service with US special forces" and “clearly saw” that “US Special Forces Units” are located in the strongholds equipped by militants of the ISIS terrorist organization banned in Russia.

Official Facebook page of the Ministry of Defense of Russia

“However, there are no signs of an assault, clashes with ISIS terrorists or craters from international coalition air strikes around these objects,” Russian Defense Ministry specialists emphasized. - Despite the fact that the strongholds of the US Armed Forces are located in the areas of the current deployment of ISIS detachments, they do not even have signs of the organization of combat guards. This can only mean that all US military personnel stationed there feel completely safe in areas held by terrorists.

Of course, drawing conclusions based on photographs of Hammer cars that there are also American special forces in areas controlled by terrorists is the same as suspecting gunsmiths from Izhevsk of supplying weapons to Somali pirates because they are armed with Kalashnikovs. And not only because the US special forces no longer use the Hummers, having moved more than a year ago to the Oshkosh L-ATV armored vehicles. The fact is that back in 2014, ISIS, having entered Iraqi Mosul, captured more than two thousand Hummer cars as trophies.

But these obvious inconsistencies did not prevent the Russian Defense Ministry on September 21 from spreading an official message signed by the official representative of the military department, Major General Igor Konashenkov, about the recorded transfer of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militants from the province of Raqqa to the northern regions of the province of Deir ez-Zor .

The key point in this message was that “SDF fighters are freely pouring into the battle formations of ISIS terrorists. During the week, Russian unmanned vehicles and intelligence did not record a single clash between ISIS and the "third force" - the SDF.

In a message dated September 21, Konashenkov also mentioned mortar shelling: “... from the areas on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, in which SDF fighters are stationed together with special forces of the US Armed Forces, massive mortar and rocket artillery fire was opened on Syrian troops twice.”

The aerial photographs released on September 24 and the Defense Ministry's official announcement on September 21 were the key elements of a massive information campaign on social networks that unfolded on the night of Sunday to Monday, which "proved" the involvement of US intelligence agencies in the death of Russian Lieutenant General Valery Asapov.

And the next morning after the appearance of information about the death of the Russian general, the Telegram channel "Herald of Damascus", referring to its sources, reported that the mortar shelling began immediately after one of the Syrian volunteer detachments left the positions around the command post, which was entrusted with protection of the Russian military adviser. In social networks, a heated discussion of the version of betrayal immediately began.

The military specialists interviewed by Novaya Gazeta, who participated in command and staff positions in combat operations back in Afghanistan and served in points of local conflicts, including in Syria, do not exclude any of these versions. But the main reason for the death of Valery Asapov is considered "dashing or bungling."

“There is a pocket war going on in Syria. Command posts (CP) are not stationary there. CPs are constantly moving in the course of the operational situation. But in any case, a checkpoint is a small, but a cluster of cars, armored vehicles, and serious means of communication. All this is necessary to coordinate the actions of the Syrian units with groups of the Special Operations Forces of the Russian Defense Ministry and Wagner PMC detachments, which are also involved in the liberation of Deir ez-Zor, says one of our interlocutors. - And it is the military adviser who directs the coordination of artillery fire, requests air support from the Khmeimim air base in excess of the order and plan ...

- Yes, the command post is always equipped in a place convenient for review and control of the situation, but not so close to the enemy. Because the accumulation of equipment is the surest intelligence sign, my interlocutor concludes. What is a mortar attack? This means that the enemy was at a distance of a maximum of two to three kilometers. The Russian lieutenant general, senior military adviser was actually at the forefront ...

More importantly, a military specialist with experience of serving in Syria claims that at least four officers from the Syrian military intelligence Mukhabarat are attached to advisers of this rank. Where were these officers at the time of the mortar attack?

- And I also wonder where during the mortar shelling was the Syrian general, to whom the adviser Asapov was "attached"? my interlocutor says. “Because the task of a military adviser is not to do everything himself, not to command, but to teach, to suggest to the commander of the Syrian army, to whom he is assigned, how to do everything right. An adviser of Asapov's level should have been next to almost the commander-in-chief of the Syrian army.

The fact is that after the transfer of Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft to Syria, with the start of air strikes on terrorist positions (recall: the first combat sortie of Russian aircraft in Syria took place on September 30, 2015), the apparatus of Russian military advisers in the Syrian government army also became stronger. They appeared in almost all corps and brigades. And the lieutenant general, a military leader who commanded one of the largest army formations in Russia, unequivocally led all Russian military advisers in Syria.

- What did General Asapov do on the front line? Who sent him there? Who gave the order to be at this command post? my interlocutor asks questions. — Bashar al-Assad? He could not give such an order. Commander of the Group of Forces of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria? He could. But for what?

It is possible that the answers to these questions can be found in the analysis of the events that preceded the death of Lieutenant General Valery Asapov.

On August 13, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, on the air of the Russia 24 TV channel, said that the liberation of Deir ez-Zor from terrorists would be a key event in the fight against ISIS:

- This is such a main point on the Euphrates, after the capture of which it will be possible to talk about the end of the fight against ISIS ...

On August 25, the Commander of the Group of Forces of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria, Colonel General Sergei Surovikin from the Khmeimim air base made a report on the situation in Syria via a teleconference. The general reported that "the total losses of the enemy in the three months from May to August 2017" amounted to more than 8 thousand militants, 1.5 thousand pieces of weapons, military and other equipment, and this number is increasing every day. Surovikin said that after the de-blockade of Deir ez-Zor, "the defeat of the main forces of ISIS terrorists and the elimination of their last stronghold on Syrian soil will be completed."

It is possible that, inspired by the report of the commander of the Russian group in Syria, on September 12, the Minister of Defense flew to Damascus and met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The conversation went "in the context of the successful actions of the Syrian government forces with the support of the Russian Aerospace Forces to complete the destruction of the ISIS terrorist group in Syria" ( quote from the official press release of the MoD. — THEM.).

But then something went wrong. The terrorist international went on the offensive near the city of Hama in the Idlib de-escalation zone. Tanks and combat vehicles were thrown into the battle, the offensive was preceded by powerful fire training. In just one day, “the militants managed to penetrate into the defense of government troops to a depth of 12 kilometers, at the front up to 20 kilometers” ( quote from the official press release of the Russian Ministry of Defense. — THEM.). The militants surrounded the military police platoon. To save 29 Russians, almost the entire aircraft had to be lifted into the air from the Khmeimim air base and mobile groups of the Special Operations Forces were urgently transferred to Idlib ...

View of the Jafra district in Deir ez-Zor, where fighting continues between the Syrian army and militants of the ISIS organization banned in Russia. Photo: RIA Novosti

After the optimistic forecasts of the Minister of Defense and the commander of the Russian group in Syria, the militant counteroffensive in Idlib looked like an outright mockery. It is possible that someone either in Moscow or at the Khmeimim airbase needed an urgent victory that could outshine the Idlib slap in the face. So they transferred to Deir ez-Zor everyone they could, including the senior military adviser, Lieutenant General Valery Asapov, who, due to his rank and official duties, could not have been at the front line command post.

The Russian general secretly led the armed forces of the so-called DPR, and then died in Syria. Details of the mission of General Asapov in the Donbas are revealed by the Reuters agency.

In the fall of 2015, pro-Russian fighters in eastern Ukraine were introduced to their new commander, an elderly man with a mustache who, like those who had held the post before him, used the call sign "Mist". Like his predecessors, he appears to have been from Russia. He signed the documents as General Primakov.

When, two years later, he died during a business trip to Syria, it turned out that his name was also not real. It was a ruse necessary to hide Russia's key role in the conflict, which Moscow and pro-Russian separatists present as a spontaneous uprising of local residents.

The fact is that Valery Asapav was a Russian general who worked undercover.

At the same time, as is known, the Kremlin has repeatedly denied that it provides military assistance to the separatists.

The five militants independently told Reuters reporters that Asapov was a military commander in the self-proclaimed DPR. As the two interlocutors specified, Asapov commanded its key unit - the First Army Corps.

Asapov's younger brother Vyacheslav also confirmed that his brother was in Ukraine.

“He was there. A whole year. How did he feel about it? Normal, like a military man,” he said shortly after his brother’s funeral.

In response to a request from journalists to comment on Asapov's story, the Russian Defense Ministry refused.

The three separatist fighters said that Asapov was not the first general to be sent to command troops, and that the rotation of Russian commanders of the separatist army is still ongoing.

Asked if the DPR Ministry of Defense plays any military role, a senior separatist officer told Reuters:

"No, the Ministry of Defense is engaged in political and humanitarian activities."

“We were told that the commander had arrived. We got up and introduced ourselves,” recalled another of the officers of the separatist forces.

Among the separatists, many officers knew that Asapov was a Russian general, he said.

“It was clear enough… If Russia is sending aid, shells here, then we need to watch that it is not plundered.”

The officer saw that Asapov signed the documents with the surname Primakov, he learned his real name only when he saw reports of his death with photographs.

The deputy commander of the separatist forces and at the same time their press secretary, Eduard Basurin, told reporters that Asapov was not in the Donbass, and they met in 2015 in Moscow. However, Basurin was present at Asapov's funeral on September 27 last year.

The name of Asapov, who Ukrainian military intelligence calls a war criminal for his senior position in the separatist forces, appeared on the sanctions list of the Ukrainian authorities in 2016.

During a business trip to Ukraine, Asapov formally served in Rostov-on-Don, 60 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Around the time Asapov was completing his assignment in Ukraine in the summer of 2016, Putin promoted him to the rank of lieutenant general, according to a Kremlin-issued decree. In the Donbass, Asapov wore a uniform without identification marks.

Asapov's story once again shows Moscow's more aggressive involvement in the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria than Moscow is willing to admit. It also demonstrates the inner workings of a “hybrid warfare” strategy that allows Russia to gain power by putting its own people in charge of local irregulars and not taking the risks that an official ground operation with a large number of military personnel would lead to.