From the article:
He said many of the injured had shrapnel in their bodies that was not showing up on X-rays, making treatment difficult. “The prognosis for most of the wounded is dismal,” he said.
“First of all the bombers attacked, and then they cleaned up using Apaches (U.S.-made attack helicopters),” Shabayev said, citing the wounded men he visited in hospital.
The aim was to test if the U.S.-led coalition would react. The force advanced to within less than 5 km (3 miles) of the SDF and American positions, he said.
He said that the U.S.-led forces, in line with procedure agreed with the Russians, warned Russian regular forces that they were preparing to strike. He does not know if the warning was passed on to the contractors.
“The warning was 20 minutes beforehand, in that time it was not feasible to turn the column around,” said the source.
He said once the strikes began, the contractors did not return fire because they believed that would provoke even more strikes from the U.S.-led coalition.
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All of the hospitals in St. Pets and Moscow are full according to another report.
I think the lesson here is clearly, Trump has given our boys the green light..
In addition to the other weapons systems you recounted, other sources reported that AC-130 Spectre gunships took part in the battle.
In open desert terrain with no air cover, it would have been a turkey shoot.