Mattis on Russian Mercenaries in Syria: I Ordered Their Annihilation pic.twitter.com/ianJra6W87 — Ryan Saavedra 🇺🇸 (@RealSaavedra) April 26, 2018

On Thursday, Secretary of Defense James Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he ordered Russian mercenaries in Syria to be annihilated once he found out that they were not part of the Russian military.

Mattis revealed that the military used a deconfliction line with Russia to make sure that forces with which they were engaged in conflict were not part of the Russian military. Once the military received confirmation from Russia, Mattis ordered U.S. military forces to destroy the Russian mercenaries, The Washington Free Beacon reported – READ MORE