Ankara calls these Syrian forces the Free Syrian Army (FSA) but in reality they are made out of different components that crystallised during the course of Syria's seven-year civil war. The groups fighting under Turkey in Afrin may refer to themselves as FSA but "they are divided into several different factions," said Aron Lund, a fellow with US-based think tank the Century Foundation. "The Free Syrian Army name was always more of a label," he told AFP. Lund said while several FSA factions can be described as "Islamists", they do not share the ideology of Al-Qaeda or IS. For pro-government Turkish military expert Abdullah Agar, the "stability" inside areas administered by the FSA since the end of the Euphrates Shield operation demonstrated the merits of supporting the FSA.

Source: Daily Mail March 19, 2018 15:22 UTC