Cover photo courtesy of Sami Raad
Hof — It’s hard to know what kind of loss war leaves behind until it touches the shape of your city. Not just its people, or its streets, or the silence that follows after shelling—but the things that gave it meaning.
Its face.
Its posture.
Its language of stone and steel.
HOF —
People look at me and assume I’ve lived a privileged life.
And in some ways — they’re not wrong.
My father comes from one of the most famous families in Damascus.
My mother, from one of the most powerful in Ghouta.
I have relatives scattered across the globe.
Wherever I land, there’s always someone who can help pull a string.
This is a personal story for those born into the spaces between worlds. These are the children of intermarriages—the outsiders who never belonged to any tribe. To those who’ve felt like mistakes, like intrusions, enduring the weight of invisible exclusion and the quiet violence of not fitting in.
Continue reading “The Thread That Holds Us in the Power of Love”
HOF – Today, the Assad regime crumbles from within. The rebels stride into our cities. The question lingers: will we seize this second chance? Or will we let history devour us again?
After 13 years of war in Syria, I’ve learned to hope for the best but brace for the worst. And yet, in those early days, it was impossible not to feel the pull of something extraordinary, something alive.
Continue reading “Lessons from a Forgotten Revolution”
HOF – The battle isn’t against an external enemy—not with armies or wars. It unfolds quietly within us, when the smallest parts of our souls grow weary of resisting our own wickedness. We let the rats of fear and fatigue fester, gnawing away at the cry for justice. With a thousand invisible daggers, they slice at the core of who we are. Only then is the human truly defeated—not by a sword, but by surrendering to the rot inside.
Continue reading “Déjà vu: Roadmap to the Abyss”
Roumani Line 