Khasham- The Battle the Media COVERED UP - YouTube

Today's episode is sponsored by Nola Mattress. February 7th, 2018. Eastern Syria, an oil-rich stretch of desert turned battlefield. Roughly 40 US troops consisting of special operators and artillery crew held a defensive position at a gas facility near a town called Kashem. They were there to fight ISIS and to keep the peace in a deconfliction zone brokered between the US and Russia. Nothing about that night was supposed to be remarkable until it was. A wave of more than 500 enemy fighters backed by Russian-made tanks, artillery, and drones launched a sudden assault on US positions. But they weren't ISIS. They were Russian mercenaries, part of the notorious Wagner Group, a private paramilitary force with deep ties to the Kremlin. And what happened next would become one of the most lopsided and covered up battles in modern warfare. And here's the kicker. This happened under President Donald Trump's first term. The man the media couldn't stop calling a Putin puppet. Let American forces level the battlefield. So what really happened in the Battle of Kashem? And how did a small US force outnumbered by over 10 to 1 hold off a wave of tanks, drones, and artillery? And why did the American media barely mention the most lopsided battle of the modern era? Let's try and find out. Hello, I'm Mike Joberg, Marine Corps veteran and filmmaker, and we will try to answer these questions on today's episode of Forgotten History. By 2018, Syria was a full-blown disaster zone. The country had collapsed into a three-sided proxy war. On one side, Bashar Assad, clinging to power with the help of Russia and Iran. On the other side, US-backed Kurdish forces and Syrian Democratic militias, tasked with mopping up the remnants of ISIS. And in between them all, ISIS itself. Scattered, wounded, but still dangerous. Amid the chaos, eastern Syria became a chessboard of oil fields, airstrikes, and broken ceasefires. To avoid direct conflict between American and Russian forces, the two sides agreed to a deconfliction line, an invisible boundary drawn across the desert. East of that line, US and Allied forces. West of it, Assad's army and Russian support. Both sides knew where the line was, and both knew not to cross it. So when Russian tanks and artillery began moving east across that line, towards an American-held gas plant near Kashyam, everyone knew exactly what they were doing. But these weren't Russian soldiers, at least not officially. They were part of the Wagner Group, a shadowy private military company made of ex-Russian military, special forces, convicts, and mercenaries. Funded by a Putin ally, trained in Russian facilities. And deployed to do the Kremlin's dirty work without the fingerprints. The Wagner Group had been operating across Syria for months, seizing oil fields on behalf of Assad's regime. And that gas plant outside Kashyam? It was sitting on some of the most lucrative real estate in eastern Syria. So on the night of February 7th, they pushed forward. Tanks, artillery, drones, and over 500 fighters. Their mission? Take the plant. Kill or displace the Americans. And pretend none of it ever happened. They thought the U.S. would back down. They were dead wrong. While watching Forgotten History on your old, uncomfortable mattress, you've probably been thinking it's time for an upgrade. So head over to nolamattress.com forward slash history, enter code history to get $50 off your mattress. I've been sleeping with the NOLA Evolution for over six months now, and the difference is real. I switch between my back and my side when I sleep, and this mattress hits the perfect sweet spot. Supportive, but still comfortable. I'm falling asleep quicker, staying asleep through the night, and waking up without the usual shoulder and back pain. One of the biggest improvements? It sleeps much cooler than my old mattress. 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The US picked up the phone and made one last warning. They contacted the Russian command center directly. Are these your guys? They asked. The Russians responded, no troops in the area. That was the green light. Within minutes, the 40-man US force, composed of Delta Force operators, Green Berets, Marine Forward Observers, and Army Joint Terminal Attack Controllers, locked down their perimeter and initiated one of the most precise and lethal kill box operations in modern warfare. AC-130 gunships circled overhead. Reaper drones fed live intel. Apache helicopters prowled the flanks. And from a nearby firebase, Marine artillery crews from 1st Battalion, 10th Marines, dialed in their howitzers with chilling accuracy. Every incoming wave was met with devastating firepower. Mapped, bracketed, and annihilated in real time. The enemy convoy was obliterated. T-72 tanks were picked off from above. Infantry formations, shredded by 105mm cannon fire from the AC-130. And Reaper drones tracked survivors attempting to flee. Cut down before they can regroup. One US Army officer described it as a turkey shoot. Another said, they kept coming in waves, and we kept stacking the bodies. For over four hours, the outnumbered American team directed air and artillery strikes with ruthless precision. The attackers never got within 200 meters of the gas plant. And not a single US casualty was recorded. By the time the smoke cleared, over 300 Russian-backed fighters were dead. Dozens more wounded, and the rest retreated in pieces. It was a one-sided slaughter. But it wasn't over. Because the real battle wasn't on the ground anymore. It was in the press rooms, and the war rooms, in Washington and Moscow. Things got uncomfortable fast. Russia's first move? Deny everything. They claimed the Wagner Group wasn't acting on behalf of the state. Just independent contractors. Unofficial. Off the books. Rogue Russians with tanks, artillery, and drone support. Putin stayed silent. Russian media barely acknowledged the incident. No funerals. No flag-draped caskets. Nothing. In the US? They didn't gloat. They didn't name names. The Pentagon confirmed the firefight, but referred to it as only pro-regime forces. There was no official press briefing. No flag-waving. Just a brief statement, and a closed door. Why? Because if you put the real headline on it, things got dangerous. US forces annihilate Russian troops in Syria. That's not a soundbite. That's a potential war declaration. But here's the part no one wants to talk about. This happened under President Donald Trump's first term. The man half of the country accused of being a Putin's puppet. Cable news couldn't shut up about Russian collusion. Late-night comedians mocked him as weak on the Kremlin. And yet, he gave the green light to kill over 300 Russian fighters in one night, without blinking. No apology. No hesitation. You remember that last guy? Obama. Or as his friends call him, Barry. He drew a red line over chemical weapons. Assad crossed it and killed 1,400 civilians with sarin gas. And nothing happened. Under Trump, no red lines, just a green light. And the battlefield littered with Russian corpses. So both sides buried it. Russia, because it made them look weak. The media didn't want to talk about it because it didn't fit the political narrative. The president wasn't supposed to be tough on Russia. The media had spent two years calling him a Kremlin puppet. But here he was, killing hundreds of Putin's men. So the story faded. The dead were buried. And the biggest U.S. victory over Russian forces since the Cold War never made the evening news. No victory parade. No Hollywood movie. No national headline that read 40 Americans wipe out 300 Russian fighters in five hours. Because admitting that would have blown a hole in half the narratives running in Washington and on every cable news show. So the story of Kashan wasn't denied. It was erased. But for the men on the ground, it wasn't about politics. It was about holding the line. They didn't just survive. They didn't just win. They crushed the Russians back to salt. 10 times their size. And they did it with surgical precision. In the dark. With the world watching but not seeing. To this day, the U.S. government has never released an official after-actions report. The exact number of enemy dead remains classified. Most Americans have never heard the word Kashan. But make no mistake, this was a victory. Not just in battle, but in the war of silence, pressure, and restraint. And like so many victories, it wasn't celebrated. It was forgotten. Let us know your thoughts on the Battle of Kashan, led by Putin's lackey. Thank you for watching Forgotten History. Please like, share, and subscribe. If you have any comments or show ideas, we'd love to hear from you. Thanks again.