Free Syrian Army transforms into Syrian National Army

By Levent Tok, Selen Temizer and Burak Karacaoglu

ANKARA (AA) - Free Syrian Army (FSA) was positioned as the official army of the opposition during Syrian civil war.

Active for a period in all fronts of the country, the army lost power as a result of external support to the regime. Now under the name of the Syrian National Army (SNA), it has gathered power.

In Syria, the peaceful protests, which began in March 2011, evolved into conflicts as a result of the violent intervention of the Assad regime, and led to the separation of pro-exchange officers from the army by the end of the year.

Former regime soldiers, who came together to protect the opposition, announced they would act in defensive position.

This formation, which became the local defense forces, later described itself as FSA.

The FSA formed a legitimate military backbone of the opposition with the Syrian flag and was positioned as the military wing of the Syrian Provisional Government established in March 2013.

The FSA became active in most of the country until 2015 and fought on the fronts of Aleppo-Idlib, Raqqa-Deyrizor-Haseke, Hama-Latakia, Homs, and Damascus-Dera-Kuneytra-Suveyda.

The support of the Russian and Iranian-backed foreign terrorist groups to the Bashar Assad regime caused the FSA to lose strength on all fronts in 2016.

The FSA regained its power after Turkey's Operation Euphrates Shield in August 2016.

Before Operation Olive Branch, 30 groups affiliated to the FSA in the north of Aleppo united under SNA on Dec. 30, 2017.

On May 28, 2018, 11 groups of Idlib origin came together under the name National Front for Liberation.

Syrian opposition groups SNA and the National Front for Liberation united under the interim government's Defense Ministry on Oct. 4.

The SNA held military exercises in order to support Turkey in Operation Peace Spring launched on Wednesday east of the Euphrates River in northern Syria.

The SNA is expected to take part in the operation.