They arrived to prepare attacks against Daesh positions in the northern parts of Aleppo, primarily to free al-Bab, which is a Syrian city in Aleppo Governorate.
However, their arrival didn’t go down very well with some of the FSA fighters. It is reported that about 100 FSA fighters staged a protest against the participation of US troops in the operation.
The protest was accompanied by the burning of the US flags as the fighters from the FSA, touted as Syria’s ‘moderate opposition’, shouted “infidel Americans get out of Syria!” and “Allahu akbar!”
The commander of the division of the Damascus front in Mare, Ebu Velid, issued a statement during such a protest, in which he emphasized that the division’s fighters do not want the US military present on Syrian territory.
He further said that his division doesn’t want to conduct joint operations with the US soldiers as they “do not want to become infidels just like them.”
Earlier, the FSA fighters staged a protest against the US military near the Syrian district of Chobanbey [Al-Rai].
Faced with the prospect of being severely assaulted by the militants, the US soldiers managed to escape the area with the help of the Turkish military.
Shortly thereafter, a number of armed opposition groups and members of the FSA, announced their withdrawal from operation “Euphrates Shield”, due to the fact that the US military was present on Syrian territory.