Karim Franceschi Profile picture
Independent military author and researcher. Transnational rebel.
5 subscribers
Jul 23 9 tweets 4 min read
U.S. envoy to Syria Tom Barrack brokered Trump’s Gulf alliances. Now he’s running PR for a regime that executed civilians in hospital beds—while scheming to dismantle the SDF.

Let's follow the money, and the bodies...🧵Image 1/ Over the past week, Suweyda endured a brutal siege: a city cut off, its people surrounded by thousands of jihadists. Massacres followed. Yet Tom Barrack, is lying through his teeth:

"The world is confused, the Syrian troops haven't gone in the city..."
Jul 21 11 tweets 4 min read
Hard to believe, but they held. The jihadist wave came like a flood, trucks full of zealots chanting for blood, believing Suwayda would fall by nightfall. But the Druze didn’t scatter. They stood. They bled. They fought for every inch. A thread, 🧵 Image 2/ They poured in from all over [MAP] — until the retreat order came. From none other than Ahmed al-Sharaa, the self-declared “President of Syria.”
A man who claimed he had no control over the fighters. One order, and the entire murderous circus packed up. The purge ended early. Image
Jul 19 7 tweets 2 min read
“What’s happening inside Suwayda right now is darker, more vile, and more revolting than anything we’ve seen in the past seven days.”

A thread based on direct testimony from the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. #Suwayda #Syria 2/
“We are witnessing executions, just like the case of Munif, a fighter from northern Aleppo, whose head was severed.”
“They asked me not to publish it. I did. Because this is the truth. So far, we’ve documented 185 summary executions, and counting.”
Jul 19 4 tweets 2 min read
The hordes answering the Friday prayer call to jihad didn’t pause, after Tom Barrack's Tweet. They poured into Suwayda, overran the initial line of Druze defenses, and are now carrying out a war of extermination, block by block.

As someone who’s seen HTS tactics up close. Here’s why the Syrian government is neck-deep in this. 1/4 Let's break down how core HTS veterans (responsible for the blitz from Idlib to Damascus) are now coordinating the mob’s war effort. Officially “dissolved” into Syrian govt ranks, but clearly running the show behind this campaign of extermination. 2/4 Image
Jul 18 5 tweets 1 min read
The scene is unreal. We’re talking trucks, buses, every kind of mass transportation vehicle imaginable, moving across Syrian government-controlled territory. Sunni Arabs are being loaded up...🧵 1/5 Image handed rifles with zero background checks, and transported by the thousands to the frontlines to kill Druze. No one is stopping them, not Israel, not the Syrian government, not the United States. 2/5
Jul 15 7 tweets 3 min read
[THREAD] HTS thermal units just entered Suwayda. What does that mean for the city's defenders? A look at one of the most dangerous night-capable forces in the region— and how to counter it. Image HTS has fielded what it calls “Thermal Sniping Companies”: elite units built specifically for night warfare. These aren’t just fighters with scopes. They're trained to move, kill, and infiltrate under total darkness — while you can’t see a thing. 1/6
Jul 11 5 tweets 2 min read
1/ I didn’t expect the disarmament ceremony to feel this emotional, or to see so many senior PKK commanders among the first to lay down arms. As a former YPG tabur commander, I recognized the gravity immediately. 2/ I had estimated 20 fighters, but 30 appeared. They stepped forward onto a platform that looked like an Olympic torch stage; not by accident. It was there they laid down their weapons to be burned.
Jul 7 8 tweets 2 min read
1/🚨 Last week, I posted a thread with Military Map on the sudden intensification of Turkish military operations against the PKK in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Things have since taken a grim, and ironic, turn. 🧵 Image 2/ Turkey’s been using chemical weapons to smoke PKK fighters out of tunnel networks for a while now — yeah, even though it’s banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention. And get this: their own Defense Minister, Hulusi Akar, admitted it in parliament.
Jul 4 9 tweets 2 min read
The new Syrian passport dropped. While people debate the font and the logo, here’s the real headline:

Turkey 🇹🇷 is issuing it,
and Kurds who were made stateless decades ago, hoping to get their hands on one, might be in for a hard awakening. ↓ Image 2/ For decades, hundreds of thousands of Syrian Kurds had no citizenship, no ID, no rights.

A special 1962 census in al-Hasakah stripped ~120,000 Kurds of citizenship. No warning, no appeals. The state branded them “ajanib” (foreigners) or “maktoumeen” (unregistered).
Jul 1 5 tweets 2 min read
BREAKING: Trump quietly removed U.S. sanctions on two notorious Syrian warlords, Abu Amsha (Suleiman Shah Brigade) & Sayf Abu Bakr (Hamza Division) accused of abduction, torture & rape, disproportionately targeting Kurds. No announcement. No transparency. Just gone. 🧵 Image 1/ Their crimes were detailed in Aug 2023 via an OFAC press release, citing serious human rights abuses in Afrin: kidnappings, sexual violence, ransom extortion of Kurds and Arabs. These men were sanctioned under E.O. 13894. 🔗home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel…
Jun 27 16 tweets 3 min read
1/ Thread🧵
Day 3 since the ceasefire in the 12-Day War between Israel and Iran. Putin says the war is over. Trump calls it a “victory for everyone.” While interceptors are restocked, launchers repositioned, and satellites realigned. Is this peace, or operational pause? Image 2/ Russia’s tone has shifted from “favoring a ceasefire” to skepticism about its longevity. Putin at the Minsk forum played a diplomatic middle ground hoping the Iran–Israel fighting could “be considered a thing of the past". But, no defence pact, and no S400.
Jun 22 15 tweets 4 min read
1/ They’ll tell you this is just ISIS. That it’s ISIS alone.
That the Syrian Interim Government. Blessed by Trump himself and led by Ahmed al-Sharaa (formerly known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani) has been fighting ISIS since taking over Damascus in November. Image 2/ And that might be technically true. Yes, Jolani split from ISIS back in 2013. He led Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria. But what they never tell you, what they deliberately omit every single time, is this:

The split was political, never ideological.Image
Jun 12 14 tweets 5 min read
🧵A WAR Simulation: IRAN vs. US, ISRAEL

No, this isn’t your favorite X space or another “D.C. Thinkfluencer” hot take. We’re talking peer-reviewed wargames, defense PhDs, and classified scenarios the Twitter mob can’t even pronounce.

Ready for a reality check? ↓ Image 1/ In 2002, the U.S. spent $250 million running the “Millennium Challenge” war game—a simulated war in the Persian Gulf. The OPFOR, led by Marine Gen. Paul Van Riper, tossed out Pentagon playbooks: no radios, no satellites. Orders went by motorcycle courier and mosque loudspeakers.Image
May 29 17 tweets 6 min read
🧵Everything You Know About Sykes-Picot Is Wrong

"The Middle East was carved up by the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916."

We’ve all heard it. But what if that's just a convenient myth? Citing historian Ayşe Hür (@HurAyse) a deep dive in the most misunderstood map in modern history.Image 1/
First, what was the Sykes-Picot Agreement?
A secret deal in 1916 between Britain & France (with Russia's blessing) to carve up Ottoman lands into spheres of influence—not to draw state borders. Image
May 27 9 tweets 4 min read
🧵Part 2: From Thesis to Warfare

🎓 1999: Thesis
🕵️‍♂️ 2010–2023: Execution

As a cadet Fidan discussed his thesis as a theoretical vision, as a MIT chief during the Syrian CW, he put it into practice-- building a bloody transnational instrument of hegemony. ⬇️ Image 2/ In his thesis, Fidan praises the CIA for mastering covert empire-building; citing regime change, propaganda, and economic sabotage as successes worth copying.

In the same breath he accuses Syria, Greece and Iraq of using the PKK in their own covert actions. Image
May 27 10 tweets 4 min read
🧵1/ I managed to get my hands on Hakan Fidan’s 1999 master’s thesis. Erdoğan’s projected successor.

He laid out his strategic doctrine long before his meteoric rise. A roadmap for a new Turkish empire built through intelligence, surveillance, and covert operations. ⬇️ Image 2/ The thesis, titled "Intelligence and Foreign Policy: A Comparison of British, American and Turkish Intelligence Systems", was submitted at Bilkent University. Written in English, it’s shockingly candid about Turkey’s strategic ambitions after the Cold War. Image
May 23 6 tweets 3 min read
🇸🇾 🇨🇳 [Thread] How China seized Syria’s most strategic port—without firing a shot.

A 30-year deal.
A French shipping firm as front man.
And two weeks later, Trump reverse policy, lifts sanctions and calls the former al Qaeda chief “handsome.”

Here’s the story no one’s telling: Image 2/ May 1st: headlines said a French giant was taking over Syria’s Port of Latakia.

After some digging it turns out CMA CGM is French in name only: In 2013, China dropped €400 million for 49% of CMA’s terminals. Another $1 billion in loans turned it into a Belt & Road weapon. Image
May 19 7 tweets 3 min read
ENDGAME 🧵
A 10-day ultimatum has been issued. the SDF must submit to Damascus, or dissolve. Today, clashes erupted near the Tişrin Dam; just kilometers from Kobani.

This isn’t just a skirmish. This is Clausewitz culminating point of attack: the moment where offensive force must achieve decisive victory or collapse under its own momentum.Image 1/ I’ve written many threads tracing how Ahmed al-Sharaa (Jolani), now declared interim president of Syria with the endorsement of key actors in the imperial core, is navigating the passage from insurgent to head of state. Image
Image
Image
May 6 10 tweets 4 min read
🧵1/ Macron is about to welcome Syria’s “new president,” Ahmed al-Sharaa, to Paris.

You might know his name. Not his body count.

Meet al-Jolani, “former” al-Qaeda Emir. While the West cashes in, Syria bleeds — its worst sectarian massacre in a decade. 👇 Image 2/ You know that trope where the villain shaves, puts on a suit, and suddenly he’s in charge?

That’s literally what happened.

Ahmed al-Sharaa is Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, ex–al-Qaeda, ex–jihadist warlord, now rebranded as “Syria’s hope” after Assad’s fall. Image
Mar 16 9 tweets 4 min read
Tomorrow, Brussels hosts the 9th #Syria Conference, one of the most shameful moments in European diplomacy; @vonderleyen’s DEI appointees, are about to roll out the red carpet for jihadists—days after they orchestrated a massacre of Syrian minorities.

Europe has fallen—🧵 Image 2/ The EU claims this conference will foster a "Syrian-led inclusive transition." Sounds fine; except the commissioners in charge know nothing about Syria and ignore that this “transition” is supposed to be led by an ISIS offshoot committing war crimes as we speak.Image
Mar 13 8 tweets 3 min read
1/ 🧵A massacre is unfolding in Syria. Alawite civilians are being slaughtered; executed, displaced, wiped out. And the world? Silent. Worse, some are justifying it. Let’s break down the lies that make genocide acceptable. ↓ Image 2/ The killers want you to believe these Alawites are just “Assad remnants.” That’s the cover-up. These are civilians <men, women, children> being murdered because of who they are, not because of any allegiance. Image