One day, as I was undergoing yet another round of torture from the secret police in the infamous Palestine Branch, I cried out: “Abdullah al-Daliyah!” Abdullah al-Daliyah is one of our Alawite ancestors, a saint whose name the men from my village invoke to this day when they’re in dire straits. The man torturing me suddenly stopped and yanked off my blindfold. With a wild-eyed stare, he demanded: “Who are you?”
I kept quiet, since in the opposition we were strictly forbidden ever to disclose our names. He shouted in agitation: “Say something! Are you Bassam?”
I nodded. Turning away, he marched around the interrogation room, then closed the door and continued pacing up and down without looking at me. Finally he wheeled around and asked, his eyes full of tears: “Don’t you know me?”
I shook my head. After ten years, he was unrecognizable. With a sigh, he bowed his head. “I’m Abdullah . . . ”
Occasionally, one comes across circumstances so unbelievable they can only be engineered by fate. Coming in at No. 9 in our countdown of the most-read articles of 2025, this poignant piece of nonfiction follows Syrian political activist Bassam Yousuf (tr. Katherine Van de Vate) as he reflects on his relationship with a childhood friend, Abdullah. In this essay featured in our Summer 2025 issue, Yousuf traces their parallel paths as he sides with the political opposition, and Abdullah with the Assad regime—a choice that culminates in their bitter reunion. The title gives it away: “When I looked into the face of my torturer . . . I recognized my old school-friend.”
When a young Yousuf keeps a sick Abdullah company by order of their teacher, a brief, pure, and inseparable bond forms. Both Alawite men’s paths grow to diverge along party lines, as Yousuf is imprisoned for his membership in the Syrian Communist Party from 1987 to 1997 in Syria’s Sednaya Prison, and Abdullah comes to work for the Directorate of Military Intelligence and is charged with his torture—a testament to how the regime turned friend into foe.
The shadow of government looms over their relationship, which is beautifully threaded throughout the years. Yet, their political differences sow bitter seeds. In a twist to spite fate, perhaps bonds do not trump circumstance.
This evocative piece blends warm and melancholic notes that linger long after reading. Originally written in 2018, reading this essay in December of 2025 is a bittersweet comfort, as we mark a year after the fall of the Assad regime. More of Yousuf’s eloquent storytelling and experience in prison is detailed in his memoir, The Memory Stone: Some of the Hell of Syrian Prisons. While the regime’s imprint will not subside easily, there is a cautious optimism that the suffering that plagued both sides has paused, if not passed.
Keep an eye out tomorrow as we release number eight!
READ OUR NINTH MOST WIDELY READ ARTICLE OF THE YEAR
*****
Discover more on the Asymptote blog:
- Our Top Ten Articles of 2025, as Chosen by You: #10 Attention as Predation: Fields of Influence and Omnivorous Forces of Alignment by Johanna Drucker
- What’s New in Translation: December 2025
- What’s New in Translation: November 2025