We had spoken in July 1993 after the Israelis bombed his house during an earlier offensive, breaking both his legs. My wife Zeinab was standing beside me. She died in Qana. His children and grandchildren also died there. The Qana bloodshed most angered and saddened the Lebanese, but the attacks on the power stations convinced them that Israel wanted to sabotage Lebanon's recovery.
Electricity is symbolic.
After watching the Israeli air raid on Bsalim power station from his office window, Itani shed tears of rage. While the blitz continued, Lebanon lived out a strange dichotomy. Reconstruction continued in the midst of destruction. Israeli missile ships shelled the coastal highway between Beirut and Tyre. Christians and Muslims alike pitched in to help Shi'ite refugees from the south.