ALEPPO, Syria — While Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced from the central province of Konya Dec. 17 that his country was determined to launch a military operation against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) east of the Euphrates River, factions affiliated with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) started to send fighters to the Syrian-Turkish border.

“We can start our operation against terrorists at any moment now,” he said, adding, “We have received a positive response from US President Donald Trump regarding the military operation we announced last week east of the Euphrates.”

On Dec. 14, FSA factions gave the Turkish army the names of fighters willing to take part in the military operation. They will be transferred from the Euphrates Shield area in the countryside of Aleppo to southern Turkey along the border with Syria. The FSA-affiliated National Army in the Euphrates Shield area has also said that all of its factions would be sending members to take part in the military operation.

One FSA commander told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “The FSA factions sent more than 2,000 fighters into Turkey on Nov. 20 for military training. These were stationed along the Turkish-Syrian border. On Dec. 15, the Turkish army asked the FSA factions to send more fighters to the border area south of Turkey. Consequently, more than 2,000 fighters will be sent to the border, and this will bring the total number of fighters to 4,000.”