Mustafa Aldabbas
The Mirror I Left Broken for Three Years
For three years, a cracked mirror hung by my front door, reflecting a life I had learned to see without noticing what was broken. When I finally took it down, I found myself confronting far more than the end of a relationship: the memories of surviving violence, the fear of abandonment, and the painful ways love can become entangled with trauma. This is a story about what we learn to endure, what we mistake for devotion, and what remains when we finally choose to leave.
We Were Watching Our Relationship Instead of Living It
A dinner meant to bring us closer became crowded with everything we had left unresolved. On old hurt, the need to be heard, and making room for love to be lived.
The Light That Burned Me, Even Though I’m Not a Mosquito
A childhood fear of darkness, the glow of city streets, and the things we mistake for safety. A personal essay about learning to love light without moving close enough to burn.
“Monster”: How Ryan Murphy Makes Us Root for the Killer
Across its true-crime stories, Monster draws us into the killer’s pain—and confronts us with the unsettling distance between understanding violence and taking pleasure in it.
02I Don’t Remember When You Became Part of Me
I don’t remember when love stopped being something I was waiting for and became something I was already living inside. A reflection on intimacy, ordinary rituals, desire, conflict, freedom, and learning how to love deeply without losing yourself.
03The Future We Lived Before It Happened
I knew the house we would live in, where I would put my plants, and how his face might change as we grew older. Through the smallest rituals of love, we built a future so vivid that I sometimes felt I had already lived it. This is the story of that imagined life, the promises that gave it shape, and the memories that still make it feel real.
04The Sun and the Moon: The Circle We Once Made
In Part Two of After Love, I revisit our sun and moon necklaces, an afternoon by Berlin’s River Spree, and the small reminders of love that remain after separation.
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Through Nostalgia, Not History: Assala Reimagines a Lost Homeland for Syrians
Assala Nasri's Syrian Album revisits Syria's musical heritage through 14 songs and AI-generated videos, exploring nostalgia, identity and a homeland lost to war.
Idlib’s Fuel Protests: The Authorities’ First Real Test
As fuel, electricity and communications costs rise, Syrians are asking who will pay for recovery and how long households can continue to absorb its price.
Al Araby TV at Lusail: Four Years and a New Birth
Four years have passed since Al Araby TV lit up its studios in Lusail, Qatar, ending a seven-year founding phase in London and opening a new chapter under the slogan "Al Araby on Arab Soil."
“The White Lotus”: A Corrupted Paradise and a Star-Making Machine
From its critique of privilege, class and Western tourism to its role in creating new stars and shaping fashion, travel and digital culture, The White Lotus has become one of contemporary television’s defining phenomena, combining visual beauty with a darkly satirical portrait of the wealthy.
"Cassandra" Reopens Syrians' Wounds From the Era of Assad Television
The return of Cassandra's stars reopens a Syrian memory of television, censorship, family viewing and the pop culture that entered homes under the Assad regime.
Waha Al-Raheb: Return Is Incomplete Without Safety and Justice
A conversation about drama, national memory and the conditions Syrians need in order to return.
A Syrian journalist in Berlin
I report and write about Syria, politics and society, human rights, media and digital culture, migration and exile, queer life, climate justice, culture and memory. My work has appeared in Al-Modon, Daraj, Der Tagesspiegel, Rozana and Raseef22.
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