Video footage obtained by Reuters showed FSA members preparing for battle on Tuesday (February 27) and Wednesday, accompanied by armoured vehicles.
Turkey launched the five-week-old military operation in Afrin against the Kurdish YPG militia, which Turkey says is an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party which is deemed a terrorist group by the United States and European Union. The YPG is not designated as a terrorist group by the U.N. Security Council.
In late February hundreds of pro-Damascus fighters had been deployed on the frontlines in Afrin region in order to counter a Turkish offensive.