Israel Wants to 'Hurt' Iran without Causing All-out War

An Israeli Air Force fighter at an unidentified airport on Sunday (AFP)
An Israeli Air Force fighter at an unidentified airport on Sunday (AFP)
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Israel Wants to 'Hurt' Iran without Causing All-out War

An Israeli Air Force fighter at an unidentified airport on Sunday (AFP)
An Israeli Air Force fighter at an unidentified airport on Sunday (AFP)

The Israeli war cabinet decided to respond to Iran “without causing an all-out war,” after Benjamin Netanyahu’s government discussed “a wide range of options,” developed by Israeli army commanders, to strike in retaliation for the Iranian missile attack on Saturday.

Israeli Army Chief of Staff General Herzi Halevi said on Monday that Israel would respond to the attack. Speaking from the Nevatim air base in southern Israel, which suffered some damage in the attack, he added: “This launching of many missiles, cruise missiles and drones on Israeli territory will be met with a response.”

The Israeli Channel 12 reported that the war cabinet discussed a set of options at its meeting, Monday, with the aim of harming Iran after its attack with drones and missiles on Israel, but without causing a comprehensive war.

In a report, the channel said that Israel’s intention was to initiate action in coordination with the United States, which said would not participate with Israel in any direct attack on Iran.

Early on Tuesday, Israeli army spokesman Peter Lerner told reporters that military officials had presented the government with a range of options for responding to the Iranian strike on Israel.

He added that Israel’s response may or may not involve a military strike, pointing to many different scenarios between these two options, according to the American ABC News network.

Israel remains on high alert, but the authorities have canceled some emergency measures, including bans on some school activities and restrictions on large gatherings.

Two Israeli sources told CNN on Monday that the war cabinet was studying military options to respond to the Iranian attack, including targeting an Iranian facility while avoiding casualties. In addition to the possible military response, the Israeli war cabinet is also studying diplomatic options to increase Iran’s isolation on the global stage, according to CNN.

The two sources, who were not named by the news network, reported that Israel was about to take its first steps towards launching a ground attack on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip this week, but postponed those plans while it was considering a response to the recent Iranian strike.

Meanwhile, the Russian Interfax agency reported that Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Russian National Security Council, discussed the escalating tensions in the Middle East with the head of the Israeli National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi.

The agency quoted the Russian Security Council as saying that Patrushev indicated the need for all parties to exercise restraint to prevent escalation of the conflict. The Kremlin said earlier, on Monday, that it was deeply concerned about the escalation of tensions in the Middle East following the attack launched by Iran with missiles and drones on Israel.



Huge Power Outage Paralyzes Parts of Spain and Portugal

This photograph shows a flamenco dress factory without light and workers during a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, in Seville on April 28, 2025. (AFP)
This photograph shows a flamenco dress factory without light and workers during a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, in Seville on April 28, 2025. (AFP)
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Huge Power Outage Paralyzes Parts of Spain and Portugal

This photograph shows a flamenco dress factory without light and workers during a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, in Seville on April 28, 2025. (AFP)
This photograph shows a flamenco dress factory without light and workers during a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, in Seville on April 28, 2025. (AFP)

A huge power outage hit large parts of Spain and Portugal on Monday, paralyzing traffic, grounding flights, trapping people in elevators and leaving power operators scrambling to restore power to millions of homes and businesses.

Some hospitals halted routine work and the two countries' governments convened emergency cabinet meetings, with officials initially saying a possible cyber-attack could not be ruled out. Outages on such a scale are extremely rare in Europe, and the cause could not immediately be established.

Reuters witnesses said power had started returning to the Basque country and Barcelona areas of Spain in the early afternoon, a few hours after the outage began. It was not clear when power might be more widely restored.

Hospitals in Madrid and Cataluna in Spain suspended all routine medical work but were still attending to critical patients, using backup generators. Several Spanish oil refineries were shut down and retail businesses shut.

The Bank of Spain said electronic banking was functioning "adequately" on backup systems, though residents also reported ATM screens had gone blank.

"I'm in a data center, and everything has gone off. All the alarms popped up, and now we're with the groups, waiting to find out what happened," said Barcelona resident and engineer Jose Maria Espejo, 40.

In a video posted on X, Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida urged city residents to minimize their journeys and stay where they were, adding: "It is essential that the emergency services can circulate."

In Portugal, water supplier EPAL said water supplies could also be disrupted, and queues formed at stores by people rushing to purchase emergency supplies like gaslights, generators and batteries.

The main Portuguese electricity utility, EDP, said it had told customers it had no forecast for when the energy supply would be "normalized", Publico newspaper said. It warned it could take several hours.

Parts of France also suffered a brief outage. RTE, the French grid operator, said it had moved to supplement power to some parts of northern Spain after the outage hit.

Play at the Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended, forcing 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov and British opponent Jacob Fearnley off the court as scoreboards went dark and overhead cameras lost power.

TRAFFIC JAMS

Spanish radio stations said part of the Madrid underground was being evacuated. There were traffic jams in Madrid city center as traffic lights stopped working, Cader Ser Radio station reported.

Hundreds of people stood outside office buildings on Madrid’s streets and there was a heavy police presence around key buildings, directing traffic as well as driving along central atriums with lights, according to a Reuters witness.

One of four tower buildings in Madrid that houses the British Embassy had been evacuated, the witness added.

Local radio reported people trapped in stalled metro cars and elevators.

Portuguese police said traffic lights were affected across the country, the metro was closed in Lisbon and Porto, and trains were not running.

Lisbon's subway transport operator Metropolitano de Lisboa said the subway was at a standstill with people still inside the trains, according to Publico newspaper.

A source at Portugal's TAP Air said Lisbon airport was running on back-up generators, while AENA, which manages 46 airports in Spain, reported flight delays around the country.

Such widespread outages are unusual in Europe. In 2003 a problem with a hydroelectric power line between Italy and Switzerland caused a major outage across the whole Italian peninsula for around 12 hours.

In 2006 an overloaded power network in Germany caused electricity cuts across parts of the country and in France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and as far as Morocco.