Operation Desert Viper

**Date**:

* Islamic State captors eliminated
* Ibrahim Varayev killed
* Yuri Mashkadan killed
* Heavy casualties on both sides
* Alexis Gould successfully rescued and returned home.
 Task Force Gargoyle
*Supported by*:
* United States Marine Corps
* Delta Force
 David Murray

Vinnie Crosby
Ellie Cohen
Olivia Truesdale
Ibrahim Varayev (KIA)
 Task Force Gargoyle operatives
Delta Force operatives
United States Marine Corps:
* 1st Marine Division
* Islamic State sleeper cells
 Moderate to Heavy
Ibrahim Varayev

**Operation Desert Viper**was the name given to a hostage rescue operation undertaken by top secret special forces unit Task Force Gargoyle, in coordination with the United States Marine Corps, during the War against the Islamic State. It occurred on April 28, 2015.

## Background

In early fall of 2015, Ellie Cohen's friend Alexis Gould was working overseas as a nurse in the Iran-Iraq border, as part of her college program. Unfortunately, the Islamic State had other ideas; they kidnapped Gould in mid 2015, intending to hold her for ransom. The United States government soon entered into a tense negotation period, with the Islamic State demanding the release of Islamic State prisoners held captive by the Americans. To enforce their ultimatum, they tortured Gould live on video and posted the footage on the Internet, threatening to execute her if their demands were not met.

Left with no other options, the government sent top secret special forces unit Task Force Gargoyle to assist the United States Marines and the Special Forces Operation Detachment-Delta, in coordinating and executing a rescue mission.

## The mission

### Forest fight

A joint Delta Force-USMC-Task Force Gargoyle strike team\rescue squad, comprising of approximately forty men in total, was deployed to Gilan Province, Iran, to locate and rescue the American civilian hostage Alexis Gould, whom the Islamic State had threatened to execute live on television on numerous occasions.

Their first major battle occurred in the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forest, northern Iran. Islamic State militants on patrol in the forest fell victim to an unexpected (and deadly) ambush concoted by Gargoyle forces alongside Delta Force operators and American Marines. What resulted was a gun battle that turned into a massacre.

Eventually, they encountered Ibrahim Varayev, a key Islamic State militant. Upon seeing the Americans, Ibrahim attempted to blow himself up, but was subdued by Vinnie, who interrogated him concerning the location of Alexis Gould. At first, he tried to lie his way out of the situation, but after Derek and Vinnie both tortured the information out of him, he cracked, revealed that another Islamic State member named Yuri Maskhadan was holding Gould captive and later attempted to bribe his way out. However, he was still executed by Vinnie.

Afterwards, got complicated when they heard Gould herself screaming for help. Pursuing another group of Islamic State militants, they overheard other militants talking about an "American hostage" at "Rudkhan Castle". Concluding that Gould was being moved to Rudkhan Castle, located near Fuman City, the joint Gargoyle-Marine-Delta Force team hightailed it to Rudkhan Castle.

### Siege of Rudkhan Castle

Yuri Maskhadan, another Islamic State militant, was given direct orders to eliminate the hostage Alexis Gould if the Americans ever showed up. However, this did not deter the Americans, who penetrated the defenses surrounding Rudkhan Castle and ambushed the Islamic State hostage-takers. The result was heavy fighting that eventually escalated into a massacre, with heavy casualties on both sides, much to the horror of Gould, who witnessed it all from one of the castle's upper floors. The forty were cut down to ten (including Vinnie and his allies).

Unbeknownst to both Gould and the Islamic State militants, Vinnie and his allies actually survived the massacre by playing dead and hiding amongst the corpses of their fallen soldiers. When the Islamic State sent a "clean-up crew" to eliminate any surviving soldiers, Vinnie and his surviving colleagues ambushed them using a method so fast and so lethal that the militants didn't even know what hit them. When their firearms ran dry, they used their blades and when their blades went dull, they resorted to hand-to-hand combat, eventually decimating the remaining Islamic State captors.

## Trivia

* This was the last known mission undertaken by Gargoyle that was recently declassified by the United States\New American government (There are others, however they are classified at the moment).
* This operation is notorious for solidifying Vinnie Crosby and his allies' place as the most lethal and scariest soldiers in military history.
* Ellie Cohen was hesitant to talk about this particular operation at first, but recently has decided to open up about it (*Life: A Compilation*).