Turkey provides fighters of the so-called Syrian National Army with a monthly salary of $500, journalist and former Turkish MP Mustafa Balbay said on Saturday.

Turkey-backed fighters "have protested this salary in previous months, saying they are not happy with it," Cumhuriyet newspaper quoted its columnist Balbay, who spoke at a meeting of a refugee group in the capital Ankara.

Formerly known as the Free Syrian Army, the group consists of more than 35 opposition groups operating mainly in northern Syria. They took part in Turkey's military offensives into neighboring territory, operation Euphrates Shield, Operation Olive Branch and Operation Peaceful Spring in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

The group is accused of committing war crimes during the Turkish offensives. Specifically, Syrian fighters looted residents' homes and stores and kidnapped and tortured several civilians during Turkey's offensive on the formerly Kurdish-controlled enclave of Afrin.