By beating the Syrian army 17th reserve division for control of the Euphrates, Islamist militias have removed the last gap in al Qaeda’s 1,000-km chain of command from northern Baghdad to eastern Damascus, including Syrian Golan on Israel’s border. Any “conflagration” in Syria could quickly spread to Lebanon, Iraq or the Golan; a violent incident in Egypt could spill back and forth into Libya, Israel or Algeria. “The threats have not gone, only assumed new shapes,” said IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz.

Israel’s deteriorating security situation has erupted simultaneously on two fronts. Sunday, Nov. 11, the IDF fired a Tamuz precision guided missile at a Syrian mortar position as a warning after a stray mortar hit an Israel Golan defense post. It was the fourth incident in 10 days. On the Gaza front, the Palestinians shot Grad missiles at Beersheba – one was intercepted by Iron Dome – after shooting 60 missiles in less than 24 hours. They injured four Israeli soldiers Saturday, four civilians Sunday – apparent victims of Katyushas supplied by Hizballah.

Both US presidential contenders, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, pledged to stand with Israel if attacked in their foreign policy debate in Boca Raton, Florida Monday, Oct. 22. But neither agreed in reply to the question to formally declare that an attack on Israel would be tantamount to an attack on America, especially in relation to a nuclear Iran. Romney and Obama agreed that a military option must be a last resort, although Romney, unlike Obama, said even a “nuclear-capable Iran” was unacceptable.

Hundreds of Palestinians lobbing rocks clashed with Jerusalem police Friday as they marched from Temple Mount, Jerusalem, to Damascus Gate - their first protest against the anti-Muslim film made in the US. Mounted police using stun grenades stopped them reaching the US consulate. Protests erupted too in the Gaza Strip and the Israel Bedouin town of Rahat. Islamists continued to batter the US embassies in Cairo and Sanaa, riot in Bangladesh and Lebanon and also attack the British and German embassies in Khartoum.

Iran stalled the US Secretary and UN-Arab League Envoy Kofi Annan’s plan for a contact group based on five permanent Security Council members and Iran to handle the Syrian impasse, refusing to join the group so long as it faces nuclear conditions. Tehran's non-cooperation on Syria reflected its flat-out rejection of the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s demand that Iran come to the nuclear talks in Moscow “ready to take concrete steps” to curb its enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity.

For the first time since 2006, the Palestinian Authority’s security services on the West Bank have stopped cooperating with the IDF in operations and intelligence-sharing for countering terrorism.  Arrests and interrogations of suspects, the most effective way to thwart terrorist plots, have been discontinued and replaced with the old “revolving door” tactic practiced by Yasser Arafat. Israel has accordingly upgraded its terror alert, fearing a resurgence of Palestinian terrorism.