Latest news with #HTS
Korea Herald
10 hours ago
- Business
- Korea Herald
Faraday Factory Japan signed an agreement to deliver superconductor tape for the demo stellarator magnet of Proxima Fusion
Proxima Fusion's first-of-a-kind power plant Stellaris will use high temperature superconductor magnets to confine the burning plasma TOKYO, June 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Proxima Fusion and Faraday Factory Japan have signed a contract for the supply of high temperature superconducting (HTS) tape. This delivery will help the leading European stellarator developer Proxima Fusion to achieve its next milestone – a superconducting demo magnet. Stellarators are fusion machines which contain hot, ionized matter (plasma) within a magnetic field of remarkable strength and sophisticated geometry. Significant progress including the highest plasma triple product sustained for tens of seconds was attained recently with the W7-X stellarator, which is built and operated by the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics (IPP) in Germany. Proxima Fusion, originally spun out from the IPP, is building on the record-breaking expertise of W7-X, combining it with advances in stellarator optimization, computational design and state-of-the-art HTS magnet technology. After completing delivering its demo magnet in 2027, Proxima will focus on the delivery of Alpha in 2031, Proxima's net-energy demo stellarator, followed by the first-of-a-kind commercial fusion power plant Stellaris in the 2030s. Timely supply of high-quality HTS tape is essential to keep fusion on fast track. While it takes thousands of kilometers of superconducting tape to build a typical energy-positive fusion prototype, scaling up the fusion industry to commercial power will require millions of kilometers. Since 2020, Faraday Factory has ramped up production by 10 times. The new HTS tape delivery contract is an important milestone, further strengthening the HTS supply chain for the nascent but transformative fusion industry.
Memri
a day ago
- Politics
- Memri
Syrian Journalists And Activists Celebrate Israel's Attack On Iran: This Is One Of Our Most Joyous Days
The war between Israel and Iran has generated widespread media and political discourse throughout the Middle East, including in Syria, where many are celebrating the Israeli strikes in Iran and the elimination of numerous senior members of Iran's security establishment. Many Syrians regard this as historical justice in light of Iran's consistent support for the Bashar Al-Assad regime throughout the Syrian civil war, up until his downfall on December 8, 2024. During the war, Iran and its affiliated Shi'ite militias, chief of them Hizbullah, established military bases across Syria and took part in the fighting against Assad's opponents, killing many of them and driving others into exile.[1] Syrians on social media welcomed the 'humiliation' of Iran and the elimination of its officials, presenting this as punishment for its crimes against Syria and other Arab countries such as Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen, and as proof that the Iranian era in the region is over. However, the glee at Iran's misfortune was not accompanied by praise for Israel, which Syrians regard as an enemy as well, especially in light of its current military presence in the south of the country and its repeated attacks on Syrian soil over the years. Some of the writers therefore wished both side success in pummeling each other. Conversely, the new Syrian regime, headed by President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and the Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) organization, has so far refrained from taking a stance on the Israel-Iran war, in contrast to many Arab countries that condemned Israel and sided with Iran.[2] Israeli airstrikes in Tehran ( June 14, 2025) This report presents a sampling of responses by Syrians welcoming the attacks on Iran. Syrian Journalist Eiad Charbaji: Look And Revel In The Elimination Of The Leaders Of Evil In Tehran Syrian journalist Eiad Charbaji called on Syrians to rejoice in what was happening in Iran, writing: "Oh Syrians, look at and revel in the elimination of the leaders of evil in Tehran... We wish the Iranian people health and that this should be an opportunity for it to bring down these Satans who burned us [all] together."[3] Eiad Charbaji's post on Facebook (Source: June 13, 2025) Syrian Journalist Ahmad Kamal: The Day Iran's Nuclear Project Is Destroyed Will Be One Of The Most Beautiful Days In History Syrian journalist Ahmad Kamal rejoiced at the Israeli strikes on Iran, writing on X: "Today, June 13, 2025, the day of the destruction of Iran's nuclear program, is one of the most joyous days for the Arabs, because today they are freed from the lethal danger that [Iran] was preparing for them. Today the fangs of the Iranian regime have been extracted, and perhaps even its head will be torn off. Today is one of the three most beautiful days in our modern history: the day of the fall of the ethnic Qardahaite[4] [i.e. Assad] regime in Syria; the day of the assassination of the Shi'ite Lebanese Hizbullah commanders; and today."[5] In another post, Kamal lashed out at those defending Iran because of its aid to the Palestinians, stating that this does not excuse it for its many crimes against other Arabs. He wrote: "Oh asses, as a Muslim country, Iran is not forgiven for its crimes against the Muslims in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. On the contrary, oh asses, it makes it even more grave, and base, and more reprehensible. Indeed, when it is your brother who attacks you, it is a thousand times worse than an attack by some foreign element... There is no justification for what Iran has done and is still doing in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen, and it cannot be forgotten... no matter what it does in [support of] Palestine. This is because if a criminal rapes four of your sisters, his crimes will not be forgiven [even] if he helps your fifth sister [fend off] another criminal and rapist..."[6] Syrian Journalist Adnan Abd Al-Razak: The Blood Curse Has Reached The Murderers – Even If It Came Late Syrian journalist Adnan Abd Al-Razak, of the Qatari Al-Arabi Al-Jadid daily, wrote on his Facebook page: "[This] is Allah's justice on earth. A year ago, at most, the Syrians had almost lost hope in everything, [including in] all of humanity. At that time, the Persians' plan was almost a reality in the region; the burnishing of the Assad regime's image had increased, and the Syrians' dream of freedom and statehood had almost evaporated. Most Syrians had no option left but to feel frustration, appeal to God for help or [pursue] their individual plans. Then came the liberation of Syria and the overthrow of the criminal regime following the assassination of its supporter in Lebanon [i.e. Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah] and the humiliation of its ally in Tehran, in an event that was more like a miracle... "Today, justice and the natural course of history are continuing, and Iran is humiliated and paying a price for some of what it has done in the region – killing, expulsion, humiliation, distortion of the present and of history, and doing damage to the future… I am not saying that I am happy, or gloating, but I am saying that the Persians are the lowest and most dangerous thing for the region, for the Arabs, for Islam, and for humanity..."[7] Syrian Political Activist: Iran, That Spread Chaos And Violence, Has Reached Its End Ahmad Ramadan wrote on X that the Iranian era had come to an end and that Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would be eliminated: "Iran, that threatens its neighbors, has come to an end! I have in the past called it a dismantled state and said that its regime is fragile. Its military and security situation reveal it to be a paper tiger, and the coming attacks will strike at political leaders, including Khamenei. Iran, which sowed chaos and violence, deployed militias, and destroyed and participated in the killing of over three million Arabs, has come to an end forever... "A new regime is coming to Iran and Iraq, and there will be a change in Yemen and Lebanon (the end of the Houthis and Hizbullah). The Iranian era is over, a different Middle East has begun [to form], and we must all get ready."[8] Other Syrian Activists Wish Success To Both Iran And Israel Alongside the condemnation of Iran, several Syrians expressed the wish that Iran and Israel would damage each other. For example, Syrian journalist Nour Abu Hassan wrote on X: "We hope that neither side will act with restraint. Thank you."[9] Abu Ali Mahamid from southern Syria wrote sarcastically, "We wish victory to both sides."[10] Syrian Journalist In Saudi Daily: This Is The End of The Iranian Era In The Region, And Of The Obama Doctrine Similar claims to those posted by Syrians on social media appear in the article by Syrian journalist Aliya Mansour in her column in the Saudi daily Al-Majallah: "After the recent Israeli operation in Iran, we can declare the end of the Iranian era in the region, the end of the era of this country's domination of [other] countries and peoples. We can also declare the end of the disastrous 'Obama doctrine' in the region, [conceived by] a man who wanted Tehran to have the influence and authority in this region, in disregard of the region's identity, [which has a Sunni majority] of the interests of countries that have – or lack – [various] alliances, and of the will of the peoples… "The first slap sustained by the 'Iranian Empire' project was the elimination of [Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force commander] Qassem Soleimani. [Then] came [more] slaps and blows, one after the other, from the pager operation [by Israel against Hizbullah] to the elimination of Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and the effective removal of [his] party [Hizbullah] from the circle of regional influence, to the elimination of Hamas political bureau head Isma'il Haniya while he was staying in Tehran and the fall of the Bashar Al-Assad regime [in Syria], which cut off [Iran's] supply line [via Syria]. "After all of this, Iran was given a chance. It was invited to negotiate about its nuclear project, but it did not conduct itself properly, did not understand the magnitude of the hour and did not realize that its project was over and that its death would be pronounced [either] at the negotiating table or on the battlefield. Today, whether the war will be brief or prolonged, its outcomes are known [in advance]: Tehran will drink the cup of poison and Iran will be restored to the Iranian [people], which will ensure that this loathsome regime will meet its end and the Iranian people will [be given] their chance to speak."[11]
Daily Maverick
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Why a jihadist takeover of a Sahelian capital is unlikely
Despite a recent surge in terrorist attacks, the region is more at risk of fragmentation than centralised jihadist rule. Insecurity has risen sharply in the Sahel in recent months. Between late May and early June, major attacks claimed by Jama'at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) targeted various locations in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. This resurgence underscores the two groups' adaptive capabilities and questions the efficacy of counterterrorism strategies implemented by the Alliance of Sahel States' (AES) military-led governments. Consequently, some analysts are concerned about the potential for a Sahelian capital to fall under jihadist control – drawing parallels to the December 2024 capture of Damascus by terror group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). However, there are critical contextual distinctions between the two scenarios. Unlike HTS, which has consistently pursued regime change to position itself as a political-religious alternative, JNIM and ISGS show no intent to seize power in the capital cities of Bamako, Niamey or Ouagadougou. Rather, their strategies emphasise the gradual erosion of state authority in rural peripheries where they mediate local conflicts, enforce norms and collect taxes. This underscores their comparatively limited operational capacity. JNIM and ISGS primarily operate in remote rural areas, using light weapons such as rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers and mortars. They also use motorcycles, improvised explosive devices and weaponised civilian drones. Although they have taken and temporarily controlled towns in the interior, such as Djibo and Diapaga, they lack the firepower and logistical capabilities to sustain a prolonged siege and occupation of a major city. Their strength lies in mobility and local knowledge rather than the capacity to occupy and govern territory for long periods. HTS, by contrast, developed a structured military force with centralised command and tactical units capable of coordinated assaults supported by drones and heavy artillery. The group had sustained access to sophisticated weaponry through well-organised transnational supply lines. The fall of Damascus represented the culmination of a broader regime-change dynamic set in motion by the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and bolstered, to varying degrees, by some Western and Gulf countries. For a while, HTS capitalised on key cross-border corridors – particularly with Turkey – that enabled the steady influx of foreign fighters, medical aid, munitions and advanced weapons systems. No comparable geopolitical architecture exists in the Sahel. While weapons trafficking from Libya has strengthened some armed groups, there is no declared international effort aimed at toppling the governments of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Although AES leaders frequently accuse foreign actors – notably France – of supporting terrorism or destabilising the region, open-source data offers little evidence of this. Even Algeria, whose role in northern Mali has occasionally been ambivalent, has never sought to overthrow the government in Bamako. Another point of distinction is the internal dynamics of state militaries. The fall of Aleppo, Hama, Homs and ultimately Damascus, occurred within just two weeks. This was primarily due to the limited resistance by the Syrian Army – weakened by a decade of conflicts, widespread defections and deteriorating living standards. In contrast, the capabilities of armies in Sahelian countries are increasing. These militaries are ideologically and institutionally resistant to jihadists, perceiving them as existential threats to their respective governments. Furthermore, having assumed political power, AES military leaders have entrenched their authority within the state apparatus, bolstering their responsibility and accountability. Also, the rise of HTS was enabled by the exhaustion of a war-weary Syrian population and economic collapse, further aggravated by international sanctions. Disillusioned by Bashar al-Assad's authoritarian regime, many Syrians viewed HTS as either a lesser evil or, in some cases, a more favourable alternative. The Sahel situation is starkly different. Although hardline Islamist ideologies have found some traction in urban centres, public sentiment in the capital cities remains hostile towards jihadists who are perceived as instigators of violence, instability and national suffering. For now, these factors together render the capture and sustained control of a Sahelian capital by jihadist forces improbable. JNIM and ISGS are likely to restrict themselves to guerrilla and destabilisation tactics. As history shows, however, this does not make these cities immune to political instability linked to rising insecurity. The 2012 Mali coup was triggered by military setbacks in the north. Similarly, Burkina Faso's January 2022 coup occurred following a mutiny prompted by escalating casualties among security forces. Considering the AES countries' protracted military transitions and constrained political environments, further upheavals leading to institutional breakdowns and a disorganisation of security forces cannot be ruled out. This could have unpredictable consequences for the Sahel and west Africa at large. To avoid this, AES governments must acknowledge the strategic limitations of their militarised approach to terrorism. While increasing troop numbers and acquiring advanced weaponry have yielded some tactical successes, these measures haven't incapacitated the violent extremists. In 2024, the Sahel remained the world's epicentre for terrorism for the second consecutive year, accounting for half of all global casualties. The youthful appearance of the assailants in the foiled 2 June Timbuktu attack should be a wake-up call to AES strategists. It reflects a generation of children deprived of schooling due to chronic insecurity, and whose families lack access to income, justice and essential social services. These factors are potent drivers of recruitment into armed groups – and cannot be solved through military means alone. AES governments need a coherent, region-wide counterterrorism strategy that goes beyond military interventions. Valuable insights can be gleaned from the Lake Chad Basin's disengagement and reintegration programmes, Mauritania's religious dialogue initiatives, and Algeria's non-kinetic approach. Equally important is the need to engage with communities stigmatised by counterterrorism operations, fostering trust and reducing the risk of recruitment. Enhanced relations with Algeria and the Economic Community of West African States could bolster regional cooperation and intelligence sharing, strengthening the collective capacity to reduce the threat posed by armed groups. Without a meaningful recalibration of strategy, the Sahel could descend into prolonged fragmentation, with profound consequences for west Africa's stability. DM
The Intercept
3 days ago
- Business
- The Intercept
Palestinian Refugees in Syria See Little Hope — Even After Assad
In Yarmouk, to get from one house to another, you walk through bombed-out holes in demolished cement walls. Mountains of rubble and mounds of trash dot the landscape, which locals climb over to get from one street to the next. To walk through this ghost town is to be haunted by spirits of the dead, as well as by packs of hungry, and sometimes rabid, dogs. There is no longer as much fighting in the streets in this refugee camp outside Damascus, but it doesn't feel like a new Syria here, where a diaspora community of Palestinians displaced over decades struggles to survive. On paper, the prospects for Syria have vastly improved over the last six months. The country seems poised for an economic recovery after years of war and a half-century of rule by the Assad dynasty. On December 8, 2024 — 'Day Zero,' as many call it in Syria — Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, forces chased Bashar al-Assad out of the country, ending an era of brutal dictatorship. In February, the European Union began easing sanctions against Syria, then lifted them entirely. Last month, in a surprise move prior to meeting in Saudi Arabia with Syrian Interim President Ahmed al-Shara, President Donald Trump announced his plan to lift U.S. sanctions that have been leveled against Syria since Jimmy Carter was president. Trump praised al-Shara — who fought against the United States in Iraq and was once imprisoned in Abu Ghraib — as a 'young, attractive guy,' and a 'tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.' News of the end of Syrian sanctions have been welcomed across the aisle in Washington and from Brussels to Ankara to Damascus. Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani thanked the EU for its decision. Former Bernie Sanders foreign policy adviser Matt Duss said Trump's decision was 'the right move, which will aid desperately needed humanitarian and reconstruction efforts in Syria.' The Economist's article about the 'euphoria' of the news is titled 'One happy Damascus.' People in Syria are certainly hopeful. A banker in Syria who spoke to Reuters described the lifting of sanctions as 'too good to be true,' and a soap factory owner in Aleppo rushed to the square as soon as she heard the news. 'These sanctions were imposed on Assad, but … now that Syria has been liberated, there will be a positive impact on industry, it'll boost the economy and encourage people to return' she told AFP. But what are the odds that what benefits investors will benefit the average person living in Syria? After all, as United Nations Development recently warned, 'nine out of 10 Syrians are living in poverty, and one in four is jobless.' The report ominously added that '40 to 50 per cent of children aged six to 15 are not attending school, and 5.4 million people have lost their jobs,' and $800 billion was lost during the war. And then, there's the issue of the people among Syria's most marginalized residents: Palestinian refugees whose families have been impoverished for decades. 'No group has suffered as badly during the war as we have in Yarmouk.' To understand what this period of enormous transition means for them, The Intercept spent a week in the Yarmouk refugee camp and observed the lives of three residents who lived or hailed from there in a loose, informal family: Salwa, a single young woman, barely out of adolescence herself, who is responsible for a brood of children she didn't birth; Bilal, a young man who wants to build houses but can only find work dealing hash inconsistently; and Abu Tarek, an HTS soldier positioned to thrive in post-Assad Syria. All of their names have been altered to protect them from retaliation. Salwa, 22, has lived in Syria her entire life. Her family is originally from Haifa, where she declares, 'I will return the moment it is possible.' But she's actually never been to Palestine. Home, for now, is a bombed-out building in Yarmouk, where she is sit al beit , or 'lady of the house.' It is her house, she explains, because she is the person supporting her family financially. After her parents left their daughters, Salwa found herself responsible for two younger sisters, ages 13 and 18. She also cares for a 6-year-old and a 2-year-old whose mom dropped them off a few months ago when she could no longer take care of them. (Why did their mother leave them ? Maybe it is drugs, trauma, a man, or all three, Salwa says.) Salwa wears a hijab, but only outside of her home. The only male guests who come over are related to her anyways, and they always ask, 'Is everyone decent?' before entering. This evening, Salwa has sparked up a heater meant to be powered by gas. But now it's fueled by burning plastic, with coals burning precariously on top for shai (tea). She has also set up a perilous bank of power strips, so everyone can charge their devices during the few hours of nightly state-supplied electricity. She then winds down with a nargileh (hookah) to her lips, as visitors come over to pass the time. They include her 25-year-old 'uncle' Bilal, more like her big brother, and two friends including Heba, who has Down syndrome. Salwa, her 13-year-old sister in the hat, and Heba eat the meal to celebrate Salwa's cousin Abu Tarek, an HTS fighter, who didn't show up because he was working late. Photo: Afeef Nessouli/The Intercept Heba immediately starts asking the men in the room questions about what what they like and dislike, sometimes teasing them. She flirts unabashedly. She enjoys listening to Shami Arabic music, and tonight she plays it loudly while showing off her dance moves. She says she loves to dance and makes everyone clap for her. The younger children jump up and down by her legs as she twirls with a sash around her waist. A woman dancing in a room of men, related or not, wouldn't have been appropriate during the more intense skirmishes in years past when groups of men in Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS might be too close to hear the music playing. The combat is done, but signs of those days of fighting are never far away. On one of the few walls still left standing of a partly destroyed building a few hundred feet away, graffiti reads la ilaha illAllah : 'There is no God but God.' It's a foundational Islamic declaration and common Arabic phrase said often in Syria. But these words are spray-painted in black and drawn inside a black circle —conveying that fighters and supporters of the Islamic State group are in the neighborhood. A few doors down is another ominous tag. It belongs to another Islamist militia, Jabhat al-Nusra, whose roots are from Al Qaeda. Over the last decade, Nusra rebranded to Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, the main rebel force that opposed and then pushed Assad's regime out and took over the country. The graffiti doesn't faze Salwa. ISIS, she says, was an enemy to most people anywhere, but she 'doesn't mind an Islamist regime in theory.' That said, she thinks it is going to be tough to get Syrian women to stop wearing skirts. It's a welcome change from the Assad regime. 'No group has suffered as badly during the war as we have in Yarmouk,' Salwa says. 'Life is hell.' Women especially were not safe under Assad. She says she knows many girls who were harassed, raped, and even murdered. 'If a soldier wanted you, even if you were married or he was married, he could do whatever he wanted … but,' she adds pointedly, 'I am a girl who screams and fights.' Until Assad was gone, she was afraid to speak of that violence — and prohibited even from posting pictures of the dilapidation she lived in, for fear of being disappeared. Now, she says, it is fine to take pictures in Yarmouk. 'I don't feel afraid like I did before, 3adi [it's OK].' On another night, Salwa and a friend are cooking dinner in her makeshift kitchen, the kind of chore they enjoy doing together, like going to the market to find deals on baby formula. Salwa says she worked at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East for two months straight recently, where she cleaned, made coffee, and helped with odd jobs. She made the equivalent of about $500 in total, which was good money: about 10 times the average wage. But she hasn't been able to get more work there, and with UNRWA's future in doubt, she is trying to ration the money. Sometimes her parents send her and her sisters some cash, but not much. And sometimes their cousins or aunties help them out, too. But day in and day out, it is Salwa who must feed at least six mouths, often more. On this windy night in late January, when the cold air whips inside through the porous walls, Salwa decides to make waraq al anab , or stuffed grape leaves, and invite some family over. Her aunt is visiting from Lebanon with her cousin, and of course, her two sisters, two wards, and two friends from down the road are helping cook and enjoy the meal. There is also supposed to be a guest of honor: Salwa's cousin Abu Tarek, an HTS fighter — though he never showed up because he was working late. Salwa uses a plastic UNRWA sign as a tablecloth on the floor of the living room and starts piling plates and pita bread on top of the spread. Electricity and water are unstable, but fresh food is usually available. Her situation, she acknowledges, is much better than what is happening in Gaza. 'Blockades are hell, those were the worst times,' she explains, thinking back to her childhood when food was harder to get. When conversation turns to Gaza, a visiting cousin says, 'Thank God for this food.' Though she's happy Assad is gone, Salwa said they are still struggling to survive. She's not feeling the optimism that others feel for Syria. 'I don't actually have hope this country will be free,' Salwa explains. She says she lost hope in any leaders doing right by them — certainly not Donald Trump — and that she and the girls will probably remain scraping by. 'Palestinians are always forgotten,' she said. Yarmouk was founded in 1957, about a decade after the Nakba first pushed Palestinians off their land. At just 2.1 kilometers, Yarmouk was once home to approximately 160,000 people in 2011, according to UNWRA, 'making it the largest Palestine Refugee community in Syria and an important commercial hub.' Long before it became a central site of the Syrian civil war with its refugee population held hostage as a pawn in battles between Syrian and foreign adversaries, it was a thriving place, sometimes referred to as a suburb of Damascus. Before it was rubble, the camp was teeming with buildings, business, and schools inhabited by Palestinian families in exile. Unlike in Egypt, Lebanon, and occupied Palestine, a Syrian law 'passed in 1956 that granted Palestinian refugees almost the same rights as Syrian nationals, particularly in the areas of employment, trade and military service.' In 1963, the Ba'ath Party grabbed power in a military coup. 'Palestinians in Yarmouk launched organisations to 'resist' the Israeli occupation of their homeland,' the BBC reported. 'Thousands of youths joined newly established groups like Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.' Over the decades, young members of these groups died fighting, including when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982. In the 1980s, Yarmouk was the home of many Palestinian movements, including branches of the Yasser Arafat-led Fatah party and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. 'Hamas's political leader Khaled Meshaal' also lived in Yarmouk, the BBC reported, 'until he refused to endorse President Bashar al-Assad's handling of the uprising against his rule.' From the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Yarmouk was a hotly contested battle site within and beyond Syria. In July 2013, Yarmouk was cut off from United Nations aid, and its population dwindled to around 18,000 people. The blockade, The Guardian recounted in 2014, led to 'acute shortages of food, medicines and other essentials.' The Free Syrian Army, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have all fought in and around Yarmouk, thinning out its population, leveling most of its buildings, causing outbreaks of polio, and at times driving people to eat animal feed. Meanwhile, the Assad regime and its proxy force, Hezbollah, also went to war against Yarmouk. In a 2014 report 'Yarmouk under siege — a horror story of war crimes, starvation and death,' Amnesty International director of the Middle East and North Africa program Philip Luther wrote, 'Civilians of Yarmouk are being treated like pawns in a deadly game in which they have no control.' 'Syrian forces are committing war crimes by using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war. The harrowing accounts of families having to resort to eating cats and dogs, and civilians attacked by snipers as they forage for food, have become all too familiar details of the horror story that has materialized in Yarmouk,' Luther wrote, with Amnesty accusing the Assad government of withholding food and electricity as war crimes. A decade later, images of demolished Gaza are starting to look like Yarmouk — except Yarmouk has fewer people and life left in it. Even more of its structures are destroyed than in Gaza. In February 2025, the number of people in Yarmouk was approximately 15,300, with 80 percent being Palestinian refugees, according to UNRWA. 'Brother, I am thinking of going back to the dark side and selling hashish,' Bilal says out loud to his cousin. Bilal is a 25-year-old Palestinian Syrian. His teeth protrude when he smiles — and he smiles a lot. He is usually covered in dust and always wearing a baseball hat. His main line of work is repairing houses. Given the destruction of most of them in Yarmouk, there should be no shortage of work. Bilal, a 25-year-old Palestinian Syrian, finds works difficult to come by. Photo: Afeef Nessouli/The Intercept Yet even when he does work on houses, money is hard to come by. Sometimes he works a job and doesn't get paid at all. And so Bilal sometimes sells hash. It doesn't pay well, and it's dangerous. But it's easy work, and his friends had sources who could hook him up. The problem is that selling hashish is not lucrative or risk-free now that a theocratic group runs the government. Bilal sleeps at his niece Salwa's house as a means of protection for the girls. Just a few months before the fall of Assad, he explains, he and a Syrian friend, Oussama, had been imprisoned. It wasn't for hash. 'They accused us of killing Assef Shawkat,' Bilal says. At the time of his death, Shakwat was the Syrian intelligence chief and deputy defense minister; he also happened to be Assad's brother-in-law. Shawkat was killed in July 2012 in a Damascus bomb attack allegedly organized by the Free Syrian Army coalition. Incredibly, Bilal points out, he and Oussama were taken into custody and accused of having been 13-year-old assassins nearly 12 years later. Then again, he notes, innocent boys and men from Sunni communities were routinely accused of terrorism under Assad on absurd charges. He and his friend say they were held in the notorious Mazzeh Jaweya prison, a military airport with Air Force intelligence barracks in Damascus. They remained in custody for several months before the revolution toppled the regime with shocking speed on December 8, 2024. The night before Assad fled the country, Bilal says, he and his friend were among a group of prisoners moved to an execution room. Military officers, he recalls, seemed panicked and were rushing to get rid of them that night for some reason. At the time, he didn't know why. 'I remember they moved us around 10 p.m. into the new room and we waited and waited,' he tells The Intercept. Oussama, who stands around 6 feet tall with a heavy build, explains that as they were led to the chamber, he was 'just preparing myself to die, really.' But by 4 a.m., both men were free. The Assad regime had fallen. As frightening as their experiences were at Mazzeh Jaweya, Bilal and Oussama say that there was a kind of incarceration which Syrians feared even more: the secret prisons hidden everywhere. Even by the standards of their abduction, these black-site prisons made the young men feel like the regime and its army would justify a man's abduction for any reason they drummed up — and no one would ever know where they had been disappeared. One of those secret prisons, Bilal and Oussama believe, was in the basement of a house that a friend bought after the regime fell. Bilal has been helping on the repairs just a few kilometers from Yarmouk. The new owner said that the house's basement had been used to detain people who passed through a military checkpoint up the road. He'd heard stories that it was cramped and that people could be held without charge — sometimes for months. The Intercept accompanied Bilal and Oussama to the multi-level house, then down the stairs into the basement. The heavy metal door, orange with rust, screeches when opened. At eye level, a small, rectangular slot with a sliding cover could allow a guard on the outside to peer in and bark orders. Behind it, a corridor leads to several square rooms. The fetid air is thick with the smells of burned plastic, trash, and human waste. The floors are stained from an unknown liquid but had recently been cleaned. In one corner, a hole in the floor had served as a toilet. In three of the rooms, the walls are high; near the ceiling, ground-level windows are covered with wavy bars, preventing anyone from getting in or out. One dark room in the middle has no windows at all. Bilal and Oussama leave the basement prison in silence and lock the door behind them. 'Yes, thank God the bastard fell,' Bilal exclaims, clearly shaken. Inside a home, just a few kilometers from Yarmouk, above what is believed to have been a secret prison. Photo: Afeef Nessouli/The Intercept Still, he admits, he is also afraid of HTS. Shortly after he and Oussama exit the house, a hash dealer meets up with them to show them some product. The three boys roll up a few joints, sipped tea, and talk through the afternoon about money and how they could earn some. 'This is harder than it used to be,' Bilal explains, pointing to the hashish. It wasn't legal to be a dealer under Assad, but it is quite a different thing to be a dealer under a new Islamist regime. Despite any rosy outlooks from Western economists, Bilal says that 'now the economy is worse than it used to be, and there is no work, no nothing. It is so frustrating.' 'It will be more dangerous to sell or even smoke hash now than it was before,' one of his friends agrees. 'The new regime is very strict, even though you can smoke with many of the guys who claim to be religious,' the other chimes in, laughing. 'It isn't forbidden in Islam, just looked down upon,' he clarifies. A night later, a group of Alawites — a minority group of Syrians from which the Assads hailed — were raided in a neighborhood not too far away from where they'd been smoking. They were allegedly dealing hash. Several were killed as HTS soldiers ambushed them; others were allegedly arrested. In Yarmouk, the graffiti announcing the presence of groups like ISIS or Nusra were expressions of violent resistance to the Assad regime. But it's a different piece of graffiti Syrians cite as the beginning of the revolution-turned-civil war. It's known as the 'Dara'a graffiti' incident. Dara'a is a small, largely agricultural community in southwestern Syria, near the borders of Jordan and Israel. In 2011, as Ahmed Masri, a Syrian man now living in the United States, told CNN, graffiti appeared in the town while he was a teenager: 'At a school in town, someone had written on the wall: 'It's your turn now Doctor,' referring to Assad, the ophthalmologist,' Masri said. 'They needed to arrest someone,' Masri told CNN. 'So they started to gather the names written on the walls, names students wrote years ago, and arrested those who were under 20 years old.' The boys were 'held, beaten, had fingernails removed' and were 'tortured for weeks.' Although eventually released, community support for them increased resistance — which in turn increased Assad's punishment of Dara'a. Eventually, some of the boys joined the Free Syrian Army, which fought the Assadists. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported last year that there were '617,910 people whose death has been verified' over the 13 years since the Dara'a graffiti incident, an event often considered to have triggered the Syrian civil war. 'Here is where it started' graffiti in Daraa Photo: Afeef Nessouli / The Intercept The report was able to verify 507,567 of those 'people since the outbreak of the Syrian Revolution' by name and included more than '55,000 civilians who were killed under torture in the detention centers and prisons of Bashar al-Assad's regime.' During this same time, as Assad monopolized industry (and cut off aid and commerce to places like Yarmouk), dissidents were purged from official employment and pushed into the informal economy. This especially affected Palestinians, perceived to be at the margins of society anyway and aligned with resistance movements Assad found threatening. For people who had relied upon steady jobs in government or industry, the only available work was often only selling drugs, making crude weapons, or peddling to source black-market necessities, like food. Climate change-fueled drought, which resulted in 80 or 90 percent reductions in water supply in different regions of Syria, led to more chaos and desperation — and allowed another weapon at Assad's disposal in controlling the scarce water resources available to a thirsty, war-torn population. By 'Day Zero' last December, the relief from the House of Assad falling was palpable across Syria, after so many years of torture. And yet, for so many who lost so much, apart from the freedom from being tortured or disappeared, there has been little material change. 'When we would go out, it would be with hunting rifles, seizing weapons from Assad's soldiers,' Abu Tarek recalls, between alternate sips from a cigarette and a cup of mint tea. Abu Tarek is a 35-year-old Palestinian HTS fighter who grew up in Yarmouk. He wears HTS fatigues and a HTS cap backward; he has a thick beard and only one tooth. He smiles often, inserts the appreciation for God into nearly every sentence he speaks, and is never without a cigarette. He is both Bilal's and Salwa's cousin, and is visiting from Idlib, a city in northwestern Syria where he has been a rebel for years. Now he's working with the new government. The dinner Salwa was cooking in Yarmouk was supposed to be because Abu Tarek was in town and in his honor. But instead of coming over to eat with everyone, he was stuck at work planning the logistics of a forthcoming military camp. 'The operation' of taking down the Assad regime, he explains, 'was planned by HTS for a long time but we were waiting for Day Zero to move.' Abu Tarek had finished his mandatory service in Assad's military around 13 years ago when the civil war began. 'Seeing what happened in Dara'a, particularly the torture of children' led him to take up arms against the regime, he says. He and some of his Palestinian-Syrian friends in Yarmouk joined rebel groups that eventually fed into the Free Syrian Army. They would take the rifles and weapons they already had at home from their conscription to secretly ambush and kill Assad's men, then steal their weapons to beef up their arsenal. 'Bashar al-Assad's regime drained the country of its wealth. Restoring it will not be a small task.' Eventually, Abu Tarek explains, the fighters he was working alongside with agreed that the Islamist militia called Jabhat al-Nusra seemed 'cleaner and more organized' than the FSA. It has been important to Abu Tarek, a devout Muslim, that he fight for a Syria that would be governed by Sharia law because he believes that system would guarantee justice. 'It is the most important thing,' he says, 'that Syria is guided by the law of God.' When Abu Tarek's son was just 18 days old, he took him to get vaccinated when a shell hit the clinic. His baby was pulled out of rubble but remained unresponsive. Abu Tarek was distraught and sure that his son had been killed. In grief, he found a shoebox that fit his tiny body, then read aloud prayers. He remembered looking down when his son miraculously took a breath. Abu Tarek bowed his head and immediately recited scriptures from the Quran to give thanks to the almighty who, to him, had just saved his baby's life. He lives with his wife and three children in a small apartment in Idlib, in Killi, a refugee camp built from the donations of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. The buildings in his neighborhood sit atop a hill overlooking the city center and are a striking turquoise — as colorful as Yarmouk is gray. Back when he lived in Yarmouk, the camp had been nearly destroyed by skirmishes between various rebel groups like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra, as well by huge battles against the Assad regime. By 2017, an agreement was reached between rebels and Assad's regime to evacuate fighters like him from Yarmouk to the rebel-held Idlib province in the northwest of Syria. 'We had to surrender and take buses up to the north,' he recalls. At the time, HTS controlled Idlib with around 30,000 fighters. He was drawn to the group because 'HTS never treated Syrian-Palestinians differently.' HTS controlled border crossings with Turkey, along with swaths of land rich in petroleum, providing the group with significant income. Since 2018, Abu Tarek and his family have stayed in Idlib, which is ruled as an Islamic caliphate. The roads are barely paved, and there are HTS soldiers everywhere. He has been lucky to rise the ranks, he says, because it has lifted him out of extremely dire conditions. Areas within the Idlib province are still being developed, Abu Tarek explains, and, unlike under the Assad regime, it's happening under a Sharia society. A new mall he frequents in Al-Dana has separate entrances for women and men, and restaurants with private areas where women in niqabs can eat without covering their face. After Assad fled to Russia, Abu Tarek and other internally displaced people suddenly had new freedom to move about the country. He had been restricted to an area of about 50 kilometers during the latter part of the civil war, and it had been eight years since he had seen his parents. Abu Tarek believes, even as a Palestinian Syrian, that the most important thing right now to deal with is Syria. 'One day God will open a path to liberate Palestine just like he did for us in Syria,' he said. Even as Israel illegally occupies large parts of Syria, Abu Tarek believes the new Syrian army could not engage Israel in a fresh war after coming out of a 13-year revolution. 'It would be pure foolishness.' Al-Shara, the interim Syrian president who was also the leader of HTS, has 'previously said that he does not want conflict with Israel.' Now, Abu Tarek says, the biggest focus is building a country from scratch: 'Bashar al-Assad's regime drained the country of its wealth. Restoring it will not be a small task. Having taken up arms on the winning side might work out well financially for Abu Tarek; so far, it has certainly worked out better for him than for Salwa or Bilal. Recently, he and his family have moved to an apartment in Damascus subsidized by the new government. He is being paid around $200 a month for directing logistics at a military training camp in the capital — about 10 times the average wage. 'The hope is for one united Syria,' he says, 'governed by Islamic law, no more, no less, whatever Islam prescribes should apply to all of us on the same level. As for the economy,' he explains, 'I know that our new leaders, God bless them, are working hard to solve the problems everyday people have right now.' Is post-Assad Syria ascendant? Even as war spreads in the region — with Israeli and Iranian missiles crossing its skies — the consensus amongst western leaders seems to be that Syria's future is prosperous and bright. But what about for its 25 million residents? Things are certainly not very bright right now for the 2 million Alawites, the religious minority from which the Assads hailed. An ongoing series of mass killings of Alawites has occurred in Syria since December at the hands of the new government's fighters. More than 1,300 people were killed in a spate of massacres in March alone. Many Alawites have fled to neighboring Lebanon. One Alawite man told The Intercept that al-Shara and 'his terrorists want us dead, and they have now completely destroyed access to the economy for Alawites.' He believed there was no work for his people, and was sheltering in a mosque on the Lebanese border town of Massoudiyeh. Alawites need help so badly, he said, 'We would take it from Israel even.' For the more than 400,000 thousand Palestinians in Syria, the forecast is mixed. For those who joined HTS to take up arms against Assad, like Abu Tarek, they may stand a chance of enjoying the spoils of war and key roles in forging the nation's new government. For those like Bilal and Oussama, who have few work prospects except for dealing hash and day laboring, their odds seem dim. For many of the 160,000 Palestinians of Yarmouk, now scattered across Syria, who depended on UNRWA as an economic engine, prospects seem precarious at best, especially as U.S. funding for UNRWA has been frozen since the Biden administration. In Yarmouk, life goes on much as it has. People pass between bombed-out walls to share what little they have. Salwa cooks for her ragtag brood. Reporter Afeef Nessouli shares a meal honoring Abu Tarek with Salwa's family. Photo: Afeef Nessouli/The Intercept 'Lifting the sanctions on Syria is a very good thing of course,' Salwa says in a voice memo. 'But for Syria to raise Trump's voice and so on, I do not like this at all,' she adds, because Trump had 'imposed sanctions on us during his term, he is the one who imposed the wars on us, and to raise his picture in Arab countries as if this didn't happen, I do not like this at all.' 'Even if they rebuild all of Syria,' she says, 'Yarmouk will remain destroyed.'
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KBRA Assigns Preliminary Ratings to HTS Fund II LLC
NEW YORK, June 16, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KBRA assigns preliminary ratings to two classes of notes issued by HTS Fund II LLC (HTS 2025-1), a $155.3 million property tax lien ABS transaction. Proceeds from the Notes will be used to acquire a portfolio of 4,649 property tax loan assets from municipalities within Texas, including Harris County (21.9%), Dallas (13.3%), and Bexar (6.4%), with a redemptive value of approximately $138.2 million (the Initial Tax Loans) and a weighted average interest rate of 12.8%. HTS 2025-1 is a partially pre-funded transaction where the Notes are initially supported by $21.3 million deposited into two prefunding accounts (approximately 13.7% of the initial Note balance) that will be used to fund tax loans subject to certain eligibility criteria. Home Tax Solutions, LLC (HTS or the Company) was founded in 2012 and is a specialty finance holding company that funds real estate tax loans in Texas. The Company is comprised of 30 individuals operating out of five offices with headquarters in Dallas. As of April 30, 2025, HTS has originated approximately $325.0 million in tax loans since inception, of which approximately $142.5 million are outstanding. To access ratings and relevant documents, click here. Click here to view the report. Methodologies ABS: Property Tax Lien ABS Rating Methodology Structured Finance: Global Structured Finance Counterparty Methodology ESG Global Rating Methodology Disclosures Further information on key credit considerations, sensitivity analyses that consider what factors can affect these credit ratings and how they could lead to an upgrade or a downgrade, and ESG factors (where they are a key driver behind the change to the credit rating or rating outlook) can be found in the full rating report referenced above. A description of all substantially material sources that were used to prepare the credit rating and information on the methodology(ies) (inclusive of any material models and sensitivity analyses of the relevant key rating assumptions, as applicable) used in determining the credit rating is available in the Information Disclosure Form(s) located here. Information on the meaning of each rating category can be located here. Further disclosures relating to this rating action are available in the Information Disclosure Form(s) referenced above. Additional information regarding KBRA policies, methodologies, rating scales and disclosures are available at About KBRA Kroll Bond Rating Agency, LLC (KBRA), one of the major credit rating agencies (CRA), is a full-service CRA registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an NRSRO. Kroll Bond Rating Agency Europe Limited is registered as a CRA with the European Securities and Markets Authority. Kroll Bond Rating Agency UK Limited is registered as a CRA with the UK Financial Conduct Authority. In addition, KBRA is designated as a Designated Rating Organization (DRO) by the Ontario Securities Commission for issuers of asset-backed securities to file a short form prospectus or shelf prospectus. KBRA is also recognized as a Qualified Rating Agency by Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission and is recognized by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners as a Credit Rating Provider (CRP) in the U.S. Doc ID: 1009960 View source version on Contacts Analytical Contacts Michael Lepri, Senior Director (Lead Analyst)+1 Yash Talathi, Senior Analyst+1 Edward Napoli, Director+1 Alan Greenblatt, Managing Director (Rating Committee Chair)+1 Business Development Contact Arielle Smelkinson, Senior Director+1
