Qusai Abtini (2002 - July 8, 2016,

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

) was a

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in film, movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associa ...

who starred in the

sit-com A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent setting, such as a home ...

''Umm Abdou the Aleppan'' broadcast by

Syrian opposition Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

outlet Halab Today TV.

History

He was recruited from the Abdulrahman Ghaafiqi School, where he had started acting in the seventh grade. All the filming took place in the

Ancient City of Aleppo The Ancient City of Aleppo () is the historic city centre of Aleppo, Syria. Prior to the Syrian Civil War, many districts of the ancient city remained essentially unchanged since they were initially constructed between the 11th and 16th centuries. ...

. He joined his first street protests when he was eight, alongside his elder brother Assad. His brother joined the

Free Syrian Army The Free Syrian Army (FSA; ) is a Big tent, big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition (2011–2024), Syrian opposition rebel groups in the Syrian civil war founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defe ...

while Qusai took a first-aid course at the Jerusalem hospital. His acting career included video tours lamenting the state of ruined Aleppo, and school plays in which he played a rebel soldier in full fighting gear.

''Umm Abdou the Aleppan''

He played patriarch Abu Abdou in the

situation comedy A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

''Umm Abdou the Aleppan'', which aired on Syrian opposition channel Halab Today TV and on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. The show's cast was composed entirely of children who played adult characters, and was produced in

during the Syrian civil war, dealing with life in Aleppo during wartime. Abtini played the husband of the titular character, Umm Abdou, who was played by his friend Rasha. Abtini appeared in the first year of the production, but as he aged into adolescence he was replaced by a younger actor for the second series. This actor, Subhi, left Syria with his family in 2016.

Death

As the siege of Aleppo tightened in July 2016, his father decided to take him to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. He was killed July 8, 2016 in an air strike, aged 14, while traveling in a car with his father in Aleppo. His father survived.

References

External links

Report of Abtini's death by the BBC

Abtini's obituary in ''The Economist''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abtini, Qusai 21st-century Syrian male actors 2016 deaths Syrian children Deaths by Syrian airstrikes during the Syrian civil war 2002 births Male child actors Asian child actors