QAMISHLI, Syria (AP) — Kurdish-led fighters in Syria, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, said Tuesday they have launched a counter-offensive against the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army to take back areas near Syria’s northern border with Turkey.
The Kurdish-led SDF is Washington’s critical ally in Syria, targeting sleeper cells of the extremist Islamic State group scattered across the country's east.
Since the fall of the totalitarian rule of Bashar Assad earlier this month, clashes have intensified between the U.S.-backed group and the SNA, which captured the key city of Manbij and the areas surrounding it.
The intense weekslong clashes come at a time when Syria, battered by over a decade of war and economic misery, negotiates its political future following half a century under the Assad dynasty’s rule.
Ruken Jamal, spokesperson of the Women’s Protection Unit, or YPJ, which is under the SDF, told The Associated Press that its fighters are just over 11 kilometers (7 miles) away from the center of Manbij in their ongoing counter-offensive.
She accused Ankara of trying to weaken the group’s influence in negotiations over Syria’s political future through the SNA,
“Syria is now in a new phase, and discussions are underway about the future of the country,” Jamal said. “Turkey is trying, through its attacks, to distract us with battles and exclude us from the negotiations in Damascus.”
A Britain-based opposition war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says that since the SNA’s offensive in northern Syria against the Kurds started earlier this month, dozens from both sides have been killed.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke on Tuesday with Turkish Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler, according to Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.
Ryder said they discussed the ongoing situation in Syria, and Austin emphasized that close and continuous coordination is crucial to a successful effort to counter IS in the country. They also discussed the importance of setting the conditions to enable a more secure and stable Syria.
Ankara sees the SDF as an affiliate of its sworn enemy, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which it classifies as a terrorist organization. Turkish-backed armed groups alongside Turkish jets for years have attacked positions where the SDF are largely present across northern Syria, in a bid to create a buffer zone free from the group along the large shared border.
While the SNA was involved in the lightning insurgency — led by the Islamic group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — that toppled Assad, it has continued its push against the SDF, seen as Syria’s second key actor for its political future.
On Monday, the SDF spokesperson Farhad Shami said its forces pushed back the Turkish-backed rebels from areas near the Tishrin Dam on the Euphrates River, a key source of hydroelectric power. He said the SDF also destroyed a tank belonging to the rebels southeast of Manbij.
The British-based war monitor said on Tuesday that the Kurdish-led group, following overnight fighting, has reclaimed four villages in the areas near the strategic dam.
Turkish jets also pounded the strategic border town of Kobani in recent days.
During Syria’s uprising-turned-conflict, the Kurds carved out an enclave of autonomous rule across northeastern Syria, never fully allying entirely with Assad in Damascus nor the rebels trying to overthrow him.
Even with the Assad family out of the picture, it appears that Ankara’s position won’t change, with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s landmark visit to Syria maintaining a strong position on the Kurdish-led group in his meeting with HTS's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa.
“It has turned the region into a cauldron of terror with PKK members and far-left groups who have come from Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Europe," Fidan said in a news conference after the meeting. “The international community is turning a blind eye to this lawlessness because of the wardenship it provides (against IS).”
With the ongoing fighting, SDF Commander Mazloum Abdi has expressed concern about a strong IS resurgence due to the power vacuum in Syria and the ongoing fighting, which has left the Kurdish-led group unable to carry out its attacks and raids on the extremists’ scattered sleeper cells.
Tens of thousands of children, family members, and supporters of IS militants are still held in large detention centers in northeastern Syria, in areas under SDF control.
Chehayeb reported from Beirut.
FILE - U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters stand guard at Al Naeem Square, in Raqqa, Syria, Monday, Feb. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of burning a woman to death inside a New York City subway train used a shirt to fan the flames, a prosecutor said Tuesday at his arraignment on murder charges.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, who federal immigration officials said is a Guatemalan citizen who entered the U.S. illegally, was not required to enter a plea and did not speak at the hearing in Brooklyn criminal court.
Zapeta, wearing a white jumpsuit over a weathered black hooded sweatshirt, will remain jailed at the city's Rikers Island complex and is due back in court on Friday. His lawyer did not ask for bail.
Zapeta is charged with two counts of murder, accusing him of intentionally killing the woman and killing her while committing arson. He is also charged with one count of arson. The top charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez called the attack a “gruesome and senseless act of violence” and said it would be “met with the most serious consequences.”
The apparently random attack occurred Sunday morning on an F train that was stopped at the Coney Island station. The victim's identification is still pending.
Authorities say Zapeta approached the woman, who may have been sleeping in the train, and set her clothing on fire with a lighter.
Zapeta then fanned the flames with a shirt, engulfing her in fire, Assistant District Attorney Ari Rottenberg said in court Tuesday.
Zapeta then sat on a bench on the subway platform and watched, Rottenberg said.
According to Rottenberg, Zapeta told detectives that he didn’t know what happened but identified himself in images of the attack.
Zapeta's lawyer, public defender Andrew Friedman, did not speak to reporters after the arraignment. A message seeking comment was left for him.
Video on social media appears to show some people looking on from the platform and at least one police officer walking by while the woman is on fire inside the train.
NYPD Transit Chief Joseph Gulotta said Sunday that several officers responded to the fire and one stayed to keep the crime scene “the way it’s supposed to be" while the others went to get fire extinguishers and transit workers.
“Officers who were on patrol on an upper level of that station smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate. What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
They eventually put the fire out, but “unfortunately, it was too late,” Tisch said, and the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Zapeta was taken into custody Sunday afternoon while riding a train on the same subway line after teenagers recognized him from images circulated by the police.
A Brooklyn address for Zapeta released by police matches a shelter that provides housing and substance abuse support. The shelter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Federal immigration officials said Zapeta was deported in 2018 but later reentered the U.S. illegally.
The crime deepened a growing sense of unease among some New Yorkers about the safety of the subway system, amplified by graphic video of the attack that ricocheted across social media.
“It creeped me out real bad,” said Deandre Nelson, 22.
Others said the attack hasn’t changed their daily routine or how they feel about the subway.
“I don’t think it gave me pause," said Collin Burroughs, 24. “I think it mostly just made me sad.”
Overall, crime is down in the transit system compared to last year.
Major felonies declined 6% between January and November compared to the same time period last year, according to data from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But murders are up, with nine killings this year through November compared to five during the same period last year.
There have also been several high-profile incidents, including one in September where police inadvertently shot two bystanders and a fellow officer when they opened fire on a man holding a knife in front of a train.
Earlier this month, a Manhattan jury acquitted former Marine Daniel Penny in the chokehold death last year of an agitated subway rider. The case became a flashpoint in debates over safety, homelessness and mental illness on the system.
Policing the subway is difficult, given the vast network of trains moving between 472 stations. Each stop contains multiple entry points and, in many stations, multiple floors and platforms.
This story has been corrected to show that the name of Zapeta's lawyer is Andrew Friedman, not Ed Friedman.
Associated Press reporter Melissa Goldin contributed to this report.
Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a subway train, appears in court in New York, on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP)
Sebastian Zapeta, 2nd left, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a New York City subway train, appears in court, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Curtis Means via Pool)
Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a subway train, appears in court in New York, on Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP)
Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a New York City subway train, appears in court, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Curtis Means via Pool)
Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a New York City subway train, appears in court, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Curtis Means via Pool)
Sebastian Zapeta, accused of setting a woman on fire inside a New York City subway train, appears in court, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Curtis Means via Pool)
A suspect, identified by police as Sebastian Zapeta, is facing murder and arson charges in New York City for allegedly setting a woman on fire inside a subway train and then watching her die after she was engulfed in flames, police said Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (WABC-TV via AP)
