Karim Franceschi

Asymmetric warfare & decolonial military history

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

Someone took this photo in Kobani, 2014. That’s me on the left. As an Italian international volunteer, I crossed the Turkish border under the cover of night, cutting through barbed wire alongside young Kurds from all four corners of Kurdistan. I remember the propaganda videos; John Cantlie announcing a Mujahideen victory with the city skyline behind him, punctuated by the rattle of small-arms fire. He claimed they were just 'clearing out the last of the PKK rats.'

I was one of those 'rats.' We fought while being reinforced daily by a sea of Kurdish volunteers pouring over the border. The Kurdish nation had awakened, and that spirit was unbreakable. The Islamic State might have claimed they took Kobani two times over, but every time a rifle fell, it was reclaimed before it even hit the floor.
I had only four days of training before I was sent to the front to replace the martyrs and wounded. That is what broke the Caliphate.

They took streets. We took them back. Again and again, until their “victory” turned into a graveyard.

Neither their tanks, their heavy artillery, nor their veteran Chechen divisions could break that collective will.

It was a will that moved the world and brought it to the streets of Kobani. The Caliphate found itself facing not just a thousand Kurdish fighters, but the unbreakable spirit of Kurdistan and a world that couldn’t look away anymore.

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

@BoxNews11 They don’t even operate them themeselves, it’s all US contractors.

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

Saudi Arabia spent a fortune in U.S. Patriots and THAAD systems; still the Houthis drone technology is outpacing anything MBS oil money can buy.

Top 10 worldwide in military spending ($83 billion), and this is the result:

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

@FK_one_77 That’s actually the US mil industry working as intended. Saudi Arabia’s military spending has always been about coup-proofing the ruling family, at the expense of building combat effectiveness. So they stay ever the security-dependent junior partner.

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

@_jvd9 💯

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

Is there anyone, anyone, still under the impression that what we’re seeing in Hasakah isn’t either the hammer coming down or a rehearsal for it?

Protests, provocations, then an intervention to “restore order”: how many times have we seen that sequence?

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

The YPJ main spokeswoman calls on the “authorities” to hold to account those responsible for yesterday’s attack on a billboard depicting a braid. She defined it an attack on the very existence of women.

The “authorities” back in January..

[Ruksen Mohamed @YPJspox]

The attack in Hasakah yesterday on a billboard depicting a braid went far beyond the billboard itself: it struck at the dignity, the values and the very existence of women and of our people. It was no random act, but the expression of an aggressive mindset bent on undermining the stability of this province.

Racist slogans were chanted and ISIS signs were raised during yesterday’s events. This shows that those who seek to target the stability of the people of this province stand not only against our people’s values, but against the law itself.

We call on the authorities to take a clear stand and to hold those responsible to account.

[Judy Berxwedan @Judy20255]

An Important Clarification About What Is Happening in the City of Hasakah Rojava.

The Damascus government and Turkish intelligence, with the complicity of U.S. envoy Tom Barrack in Syria, are attempting by every possible means to Arabize Kurdish areas and diminish Kurdish influence and power.

This is what is happening today in the city of Hasakah, through false pretexts, media propaganda, and the distortion of facts. Today, they reported that the people of Hasakah are demanding the entry of the state. This is a lie, because those who entered Hasakah came from Deir ez-Zor, al-Shaddadi, Raqqa, and other areas, in order to create the impression that Hasakah is a city with an Arab majority and that there are popular demands representing its residents.

However, those who were brought in exposed themselves, as ISIS cells emerged, Al-Qaeda slogans were raised, and threats were made to slaughter Kurds. These are serious matters whose truth must be exposed to everyone.

They are also exploiting the rhetoric of patriotism and political parties, taking advantage of some weak-willed Kurds to advance their projects and attempting to weaken the Kurdish position from within.

But the truth is clear to us: We will not accept the Arabization of our areas, we will not accept the distortion of the truth about what is happening in Hasakah, and we will not accept the use of patriotic slogans as a cover for marginalizing the Kurds and curtailing their rights.

Hasakah is a land inhabited by its own people, and the Kurds are an integral part of this land. Neither disinformation campaigns nor media manipulation will change the reality of their presence and their rights.

#الحسكة

#Damascus_Terrorist_Government

#DefendRojava

[Amberin Zaman @amberinzaman]

There are around 638,000 Kurdish students in the northeast. Around 100,000 of them studied in schools run by the Kurdish authorities, and roughly 40,000 of those cannot speak, read or write Arabic, according to Ahmed Mourad, a Kurdish member of Syria's new People's Assembly. "It's impossible to integrate them. We are talking about a lost generation. It's a catastrophe," Mourad told Al-Monitor

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

After dispersing the peaceful Kurdish protest, al-Qaeda mobilized its base, which is now moving under armed escort to claim Hasakah.

Defended by Kurds and Christian Armenians, the multi-ethnic city defied the odds by withstanding the January offensive.

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

Firing AK-47 rounds into the air as crowd control—that’s what the EU is funding under 'transitional security.' That’s how Kurds who dare to peacefully protest are treated now. That’s how al-Qaeda governs Kurdistan. That’s the (dis)integration process.

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

@PozeBaroze The March agreement was certainly a blunder of historic proportions, but as for what has happened since January, I would hardly call it a handover.

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

Firing AK-47 rounds into the air as crowd control—that’s what the EU is funding under 'transitional security.' That’s how Kurds who dare to peacefully protest are treated now. That’s how al-Qaeda governs Kurdistan. That’s the (dis)integration process.

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

@sarahadams Thank you, Sarah. Nobody wants to talk about this, but it was so obvious in January when every single ISIS prison captured from the Kurdish-led SDF had its prison cells swung wide open.

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

The so called Syria government forces “vetting process” for releasing 10,000 ISIS prisoners held by the SDF:

“Raise your hand. State your name and place of birth. Good enough, you’re free to go. Sir.”

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

They had a ceremony too. 🙄

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

I’ve always wondered why Kamal Chomani isn’t banned in Turkey, given his meeting with a wanted PKK commander and his apparently pro-KCK stance. 🤔

Is Peshraw Mohammed’s “The Amargi Trojan Horse” onto something? I found little evidence for the funding allegations, though some other claims seem supported.

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

The CEFTUS Media Excellence Award finalists: each more pro-AKP and anti-Kurdish than the last, all Turkish nationalists, and Amargi won… draw your own conclusions.

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

Yep

[Meli Dlal ☀️ @DlalMeli49201]

Just look at how beautifully integration is working in #Syria…

They want nothing Kurdish to exist…

#rojava

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

Fine he’s a joke, still that doesn’t erase the documented facts: Çandar advised Özal and promoted neo-Ottoman ideas, wrote the report on PKK disarmament, and spoke at Amargi’s launch. Amargi also received the CEFTUS award. Those facts alone don’t prove capture, but they’re not inventions either.

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

@flintsparc I explicitly said I found little evidence for the funding allegations and that only some other claims seemed supported. That’s a qualified question, not an endorsement of the article. Which claims do you dispute?

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

Quite an in-depth article on what’s left of Kurdish language rights after the January agreement on SDF (dis)integration. Al-Monitor’s chief just got back from Syria, giving the piece a fresh, on-the-ground perspective.

[Amberin Zaman @amberinzaman]

🆕⁉️JUST IN🇸🇾 My latest dispatch from Syria explores how language barriers are shifting attitudes among Kurds and Arabs who face discrimination, creating empathy and opening minds in unexpected ways.
https://t.co/Fp3f4t205i

[Karim Franceschi @karimfranceschi]

Join the war “officially”… September reports (Al-Akhbar) said hundreds of veteran jihadists from Syria had gone to Yemen, set up training camps and raised dozens of new brigades.

They’ve been at the forefront of the recent Houthi reversal near Bab el-Mandeb.

[Hiba Nasr @HibaNasr]

‼️ Syria may join the war in Yemen. No final decision has been made, but the idea is under discussion, according to multiple sources.

Sharaa visited Saudi Arabia today.