52: Chapter 52 Black Hawk Down

A road in the Dairo area, in the northern region of Deir ez-Zor.

A convoy stretching for several kilometers was moving rapidly, kicking up clouds of dust and sand.

Most of them were oil tankers, with military vehicles interspersed among them. Soldiers stood on the military vehicles, and helicopters flew overhead from time to time.

Major General Zaha had received intelligence beforehand that a USA military unit would pass through here, escorting stolen oil out of the Zarzur region.

This moving convoy was the USA's oil-stealing unit. The military vehicles were mostly Humvees, along with armored vehicles and mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles. The helicopters flying overhead were Black Hawk Helicopters, with three or four Black Hawk Helicopters escorting the oil-stealing unit.

Major General Zaha watched this scene from afar, gritting his teeth in anger.

Every year, the USA, in coordination with the Opposition Armed Forces it supported, stole most of Syria's oil, leaving Syria in control of less than 20% of its national oil production.

Most of Syria's wealth was being stolen in vain, yet Major General Zaha could only watch, powerless to do anything about it.

After receiving the "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missiles handed over by Iran, Major General Zaha decided to launch a small-scale attack on the USA's oil-stealing unit.

Major General Zaha deployed five "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missiles at a location far from his observation point, preparing to attack the Black Hawk Helicopters, aiming to shoot down one or two Black Hawk Helicopters to deal a blow to the USA.

Upon seeing the convoy appear, Major General Zaha quickly ordered via walkie-talkie, "Prepare all 'Sayyad' anti-aircraft missiles and enter launch status."

The USA's oil-stealing unit probably hadn't expected there to be Syrian ambush personnel here. They did not conduct careful reconnaissance while passing; only the Black Hawk Helicopters flew over the surrounding area perfunctorily, without carefully checking the situation further away.

This meant the "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missile operators were not exposed. They stared nervously at the Black Hawk Helicopters, afraid that they would suddenly fly over them and blanket them with missiles and machine-gun fire.

However, such a situation did not occur. Major General Zaha did not hear any explosions or gunfire, and he let out a slight sigh of relief.

As time passed and he watched the USA unit gradually disappear from view, Major General Zaha quickly issued his latest order, "Immediately use two 'Sayyad' anti-aircraft missiles to target and fire at one Black Hawk Helicopter."

The operators quickly pressed the launch buttons for two "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missiles. With two violent roars and two jets of flame, the "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missiles detached from the launchers and headed straight for a Black Hawk Helicopter.

Unfortunately, after the Black Hawk Helicopter realized something was wrong, it quickly took evasive action, making a sharp turn to flee. The two "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missiles missed their target and ended up crashing into the valley and exploding.

Major General Zaha, not seeing the sight of the Black Hawk Helicopter exploding, quickly ordered, "Immediately fire the remaining three 'Sayyad' anti-aircraft missiles; you must hit one Black Hawk Helicopter."

After the operators hurriedly completed the launch, three trails of fire appeared, and three "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missiles surrounded and attacked a Black Hawk Helicopter from three directions.

Seeing this situation, the Black Hawk Helicopter immediately pushed the control stick down to reduce altitude and evade, but it was not so lucky this time; one "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missile hit the tail rotor of the Black Hawk Helicopter.

The unbalanced Black Hawk Helicopter spun and dove straight toward the ground, quickly crashing and exploding, with debris from the helicopter scattering everywhere.

Seeing that there was finally a result, Major General Zaha didn't have time to be happy and immediately ordered, "Evacuate immediately, abandon those slow-moving five 'Sayyad' anti-aircraft missile launch vehicles, and scatter to escape into the nearby canyon forests."

After giving the order, Major General Zaha quickly left the place with his guards. It might be searched by the USA soon, and getting discovered would be troublesome.

The USA's oil-stealing unit soldiers were stunned for a moment when they saw the suddenly launched anti-aircraft missiles. They hadn't expected to be ambushed here, as they had already cleared this area before.

But the USA soldiers did not remain stunned for long and immediately reacted. The Humvees rushed to the scene of the incident, and the three Black Hawk Helicopters that were not shot down, having regained their composure, immediately searched for enemy targets.

The operators had already driven their vehicles away at high speed by this time, and only the launch vehicles remained at the "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missile launch site, with no one else left.

After discovering the "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missile launch site, the Black Hawk Helicopters did not hesitate and directly fired several missiles. After a short flight, the missiles exploded among the launch vehicles.

Not satisfied, the Black Hawk Helicopters subsequently fired a few more missiles and blanketed the area with machine-gun fire, wanting to annihilate the personnel at the "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missile launch site.

When the Humvees arrived at the launch site, it was already a mess, and not a single intact piece could be found among the launch vehicles.

However, the soldiers in the Humvees searched around and did not see any corpses or blood at the launch site. They immediately understood that the enemies at the launch site had long since fled.

Upon learning the situation, the Black Hawk Helicopters quickly expanded their search range, wanting to find the fleeing enemy personnel.

But it was too late by then; the "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missile operators had already moved far away from this area and were hiding in the dense forest, making them very difficult to find.

After leaving, Major General Zaha returned to Zarzur; the "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missile operators would return later, so he did not need to worry. Even if there were losses, he could accept them.

But what annoyed Major General Zaha was that so many of the hard-to-obtain "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missile launch equipment vehicles were lost in just one battle.

However, if they didn't abandon them, the "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missile launch equipment vehicles wouldn't have escaped either, and they might even have cost the lives of the operators.

The only thing worth being happy about was that at least one USA Black Hawk Helicopter had been shot down. For Major General Zaha, this was something to be gratified by.

It was just that the cost for such a victory was a bit high.

"I hope the USA will restrain itself a bit and not dare to steal oil so blatantly and transport it away so openly in the future." Major General Zaha could only console himself.

The USA's oil-stealing unit kept expanding its search range, finding only the tracks of the fleeing "Sayyad" anti-aircraft missile operators, but after tracking them all the way, they did not find anyone.

Seeing that the main force was already far away and fearing further ambushes, they finally had to give up the pursuit.

Anyway, they had already determined it was the work of Syria or Iran, so they would just retaliate immediately.