I suspect that the Russians deliberately planned to seize the oil fields as a strategic objective, invited the Turks to invade the Kurdish area of Afrin (where Russia controls the airspace) to draw away Kurdish forces, and used their deniable surrogate “Private Military Contractors” for the attack, because they were knowingly crossing the line against the American Military.
They got slapped down hard.
The driving off of the Russian jets was this same operation, but at the time it had not yet been revealed that it was Russian bodies littering the ground. Only when next of kin were notified of death of their their loved ones, and the wounded began to arrive in Russian hospitals over the next few days, did the the reality of what occurred sink in. Hence the separate reports, days apart.
The Russian Government tried against the United States, what they had done to the Ukraine - they tried to get away with murder. Likely they had other militias and a showboat Syrian Arab Army Unit (or even just a guidon), ready to follow on and occupy the site after their assault force captured it for a photo op. But things did not go according to plan, and they have been exposed.
The articles describing the SU-25 being driven off by F-22s who were then driven off by a SU-35S appeared Dec 14, 2017. The latest incident occurred on or about Feb 9, 2019; there was no Russian air cover by every account I’ve seen. In fact, one Russian report laments the lack of same.