In August 2016, Lt Gen Valery Asapov was appointed commander of the 5th Red Banner Army.[23] Since February 2017, he was sent to Syria, where he headed the group of Russian military advisers, according to the Russian official sources.[2][4][4][24] He was unofficially said to have been assigned to the command post of the Syrian Army's 5th Corps shortly before his death.[25][26]