Asapov.

This is coolbert:

Russian senior commander in Syria de facto commander of forces loyal to the despot Assad killed-in-action [KIA]. Intrigue of some unseemly sort is present here? Such is the speculation!

Finally from the latest edition of the DEBKAfile news letter:

1. "ISIS shell kills Russian commander of Syrian Euphrates crossing"

25 September.

"Lt. Gen. Valery Asapov, one of the most prominent field commanders of Russian forces in Syria, was fatally wounded when an Islamic State shell exploded at a Russian-Syrian command post at Deir ez-Zour . . .  Gen. Asapov was responsible for setting up the 676th Separate Engineer Battalion which laid the pontoon bridges for the Syrian forces to carry out its amphibious crossing of the Euphrates River last week and reach the eastern bank."

2. "Who tipped off ISIS for attack that killed the Russian general?"

28 September.

"Cracking this mystery tops the Kremlin's concerns ever since Lt. Gen. Valery Asapov's death in an ISIS attack outside Deir ez-Zour on Saturday, Sept 23, made him the highest-ranking Russian officer to die in the Syrian war. Putin's high stake in the mystery is uncovered in the latest issue of DEBKA Weekly out on Friday, Sept. 29."

"Russia's top soldier Gen. Valery Gerasimov spoke at the funeral Thursday of 'a treacherous shell' which cut short Asapov's life, a hint at the suspicion of betrayal from inside the Russian-Syrian-Iranian-Hizballah camp of allies fighting in Syria."

Treachery? An inside job? We may never know.

coolbert.