The Wagner mercenaries :

https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/07/08/putin-s-not-so-secret-mercenaries-patronage-geopolitics-and-wagner-group-pub-79442


it now seems that they are quite active in the Middle East .

Dirk

Dirk,

that is really an interesting article, I enjoyed it very much. And the source seems at the first sight honourable
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnegie_Endowment_for_International_Peace

That is always the question. What source is reliable?

For instance take now the coup in Equatorial Guinea involving  among others Mark Thatcher
https://medium.com/@jbcrocket/when-margaret-thatchers-son-tried-to-take-over-a-small-african-country-58944067c460
But, although I find it a good report, who is the source "Medium" I only found that it was from the US...

Or about the "White Helmet" controversy.
It depends what source you read.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/israels-terrorists-white-helmets-receive-award/5676631
It looks a bit like a RT television report (Russia Today) government backed propaganda (but as you will see the Americans do many times the same)
The global research is a Canadian based company. But someone knowledgeable on another forum said that they are known for their wild conspiracy theories as about 9/11.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/about-2
 
A more reliable article in my opinion and which fits with all what I deduced in the last years logically and from the many news sources available, is the following one:
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/07/22/the-white-helmets-controversy/

And the critique and the comments about the site:
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/consortium-news/

Kind regards from Paul.