Abu Ali Khalil, Nasrallah’s faithful bodyguard, was ordered by his chief, Ibrahim Hussein Jazyani, to disperse the fleet of cars forming the convoy. He did so and remained in the vicinity, guarding his boss’s cars. Abu Ali complied with the order, even though he had wanted to be with Nasrallah to hear the results of the emergency meeting that had been convened. In retrospect, he realised that staying away from the command post had saved his life. From his position, he watched in dismay as the bunker was hit by an avalanche of bombs. He was so awestruck that he was left speechless. Only one thing was on his mind as he faced the huge crater created by the explosion: What had happened to the Sayyed? Had he survived? Who else had died in the air strike? The chaos was so great that he could not think straight. Seeing the disaster in front of him, he shouted “Allahu Akbar”! (Allah is the greatest), his two hands holding his face and his eyes red with tears and full of dust that was settling on almost everything in the area. The scene was surreal. Six huge high-rise buildings had collapsed in seconds, replaced by a huge crater almost twenty metres deep. In the chaos, hundreds of people were running in all directions, trying to clear the rubble with their bare hands and hoping to find survivors.