Israeli facilities in North America — and around the world — are on high alert, according to an internal security document obtained by ABC News that predicted the threat from Iran against Jewish targets will increase.

“We predict that the threat on our sites around the world will increase … on both our guarded sites and ‘soft’ sites,” stated a letter circulated by the head of security for the Consul General for the Mid-Atlantic States. Guarded sites refers to government facilities like embassies and consulates, while ‘soft sites’ means Jewish synagogues, and schools, as well as community centers like the one hit by a terrorist bombing in Buenos Aires in 1994 that killed 85 people.

The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, told an audience at a closed forum in Tel Aviv recently that Iran is trying to hit Israeli targetsbecause of what it believes are Israeli attacks on it nuclear scientists. Yoram Cohen said that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the same militant wing of the government linked to the recent alleged plot against the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., is working tirelessly to attack Israeli and Jewish targets abroad in order to deter Israel.

Local and regional law enforcement and intelligence officials in U.S. and Canadian cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Toronto have been monitoring the situation closely for several weeks, and have stepped up patrols at Israeli government locations and Jewish cultural and religious institutions. They have issued awareness bulletins reminding officers to stay vigilant.

Federal officials in those cities told ABC News that they have also increased their efforts to watch for any threat stream pointing to an imminent attack on either Israeli facilities, Jewish cultural or religious institutions or other “soft targets.”

“When there is posturing like this, we always pay extra attention to any threat streams,” one federal official said.

“The thwarted assassination plot of a Saudi official in Washington, D.C., a couple of months ago was an important data point,” added the official, “in that it showed at least parts of the Iranian establishment were aware of the intended event and were not concerned about inevitable collateral damage to U.S. citizens had they carried out an assassination plot on American soil.”

“That was an eye opener, showing that they did not care about any collateral damage,” the federal official said.

After the disruption of the alleged plot, regional intelligence centers issued bulletins similar to the recent Israeli warning.

“In the past few weeks, there has been an escalation in threats against Israeli and Jewish targets around the world,” one regional document noted. “Open source has reported many demonstrations against Israel are expected to be concentrated on Israeli embassies and consulates. Such demonstrations have occurred internationally as well as domestically. These demonstrations could potentially turn violent at local synagogues, restaurants, the Israeli Embassy and other Israeli sites. … Law enforcement should be vigilant when making periodic checks at all Jewish facilities.

And the Israeli bulletin warned that Israel’s own passports might be used by terrorists intent on carrying out a plot.

“According to our evaluation there is a possibility that the forged passports will be used in order to pass as Israeli citizens at the security checks in Israel and around the world. Israeli security authorities may consider an Israeli citizenship as a [criterion] to proceed with a more lenient security check in secure sites such as airports, etc.,” the letter stated.

Israeli Military Strike Against Iran?

The Israeli security bulletin came in the midst of heated rhetoric on the part of the U.S., Iranian and Israeli political religious and military leadership and follows the recent assassination of a key scientist in Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. If the rhetoric is to be believed, there is a deep concern that Israel might launch a military strike against Iran during the spring of 2012.

The intelligence community assessment of that possibility, based on interviews conducted by ABC News, is considerably more nuanced, taking into account as it does the political will of the United States during an election year, the fragile nature of Great Britain’s coalition government , the willingness of other allies to join in an offensive, the roles of Russia and China and Saudi Arabia in such a confrontation, and whether Israel would really be willing to launch a unilateral strike.

“But in this situation, the political rhetoric is actually quite important,” one official told ABC News. “And that is why the official position — of the U.S, England, France, Canada, Israel and allies — is that nothing is off the table.”

An apparent shift in the Israeli/U.S. relationship has complicated matters, however, said the official. In the past, Israel would probably have given the U.S. a heads up were it to launch a strike. Now that might not be the case. Among the English-speaking allies of the U.S., say multiple intelligence officials, there is currently a very limited expectation of any early warning.

While much of the public attention has focused on Israel and the rifts within its leadership on how to respond to Iran’s nuclear weapons program, the reality for Iran’s leadership is also problematic. After threatening to strangle the world oil supply through the straits of Hormuz, Iran “has boxed itself into a corner,” said one Western intelligence official. “It would be quite humiliating for them to back down.”

The Israeli security letter sums up the resultant risks very clearly.

“In conclusion, we operate according to the information that Iran and Hezbollah are working hard and with great intensity to release a ‘quality’ attack against Israeli/Jewish sites around the world.”

All four of the female MPs who served in the previous parliament lost their seats. Liberals, who had five seats in the previous parliament, now have just two.

Voters punished pro-government MPs during Thursday’s parliamentary election, reducing them to a small minority, the results showed.

Only two of 13 former MPs who the public prosecutor questioned over corruption charges were re-elected, and the rest either lost or did not contest the poll.

Following the announcement of the results, hundreds of opposition supporters gathered at the campaign tents of candidates they backed to celebrate the outcome.

Speaking after his victory, new opposition MP Obaid al-Wasmi warned all “corruption files will be opened,” including claims that hundreds of millions of public funds were stolen.

“I tell the decision-makers that the Kuwait of tomorrow will not be the same as of the Kuwait of yesterday,” said the outspoken independent opposition figure.

The snap election was called after the ruler of the oil-rich Gulf state dissolved parliament following youth-led protests and bitter disputes between the opposition MPs and the government.

The vote followed a fierce campaign amid heightened sectarian and tribal tensions that impacted on the results, with hardliners making gains and moderates losing.

The supreme leader of Iran issued a blunt warning Friday that war would be detrimental to the United States — and that Iran is ready to help anyone who confronts “cancerous” Israel.

“You see every now and then in this way they say that all options are on the table. That means even the option of war,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said during Friday prayers in Tehran. “This is how they make these threats against us.

“Well, these kinds of threats are detrimental to the U.S.,” he said. “The war itself will be 10 times as detrimental to the U.S.”

Khamenei’s rhetoric is hardly new. But the timing of his comments could prove critical with nuclear talks around the corner.

Tensions between Iran and world powers have been ratcheted up in the aftermath of an alarming nuclear watchdog agency report in November that said Tehran was likely developing nuclear weapons.

The standoff grew more serious this week with renewed fears of an Israeli pre-emptive strike on Iran to take out its suspected nuclear weapons program.

Khamenei said Iran will support any nation or group that stands up against Israel.

“The Zionist regime is really the cancerous tumor of this region and it needs to be removed and will be removed,” Khamenei said to a cheering crowd.

He said Iran doesn’t interfere in other nations but has aided militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah in conflicts with Israel in Gaza and Lebanon.

His comments came after stern comments Friday from Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

“Today, unlike in the past, there is a broad global understanding that it is crucial to stop Iran becoming nuclearized and that no options should be taken off the table,” he said.

Barak said allowing Iran to continue on its path will be far more complex and dangerous in blood and money than cutting it off now.

“Those who say in English, ‘later,’ may find later is too late,” he said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he feared Israel could attack Iran sometime this spring in an effort to destroy its suspected nuclear weapons program, according to a senior administration official.

The official declined to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the information.

The United States and its allies have warned that Iran is trying to make a nuclear weapon. Iran insists that its nuclear program is for civilian energy purposes.

A new report from the Bipartisan Policy Center said the United States needs to put more teeth into its threat to use military power against Iran.

The Washington think tank recommended in its report that Washington should undertake visible, credible military preparations to go along with more intense sanctions and diplomatic efforts.

The military activities could include naval deployments, military exercises and positioning supplies in the region.

To stop Iran’s nuclear clock, the report said, the United States “needs to make clear that Iran faces a choice: it can either abandon its nuclear program through a negotiated arrangement or have its program destroyed militarily, by the United States.”

The report also said the United States should give credibility to the Israeli military threat against Iran by selling Israel two to three KC-135 aerial refueling tankers and 200 GRU-31 bunker-buster munitions.

Former Sen. Chuck Robb, who co-chaired the task force that wrote the report, said the group advocates neither war nor a military strike at the moment, but believes the United States will only be effective if it takes credible steps to let Iran know it is serious.

Pentagon spokesman Capt. John Kirby said Panetta “has made it clear that he is comfortable with the military capabilities we have and operate in the region.”

However, Kirby said, “the U.S. military must and will be ready to provide the president options should those options be desirable.”

Khamenei blamed Western powers for Iran’s troubles, starting with the brutal eight-year war Iran fought with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in the 1980s and continuing with the latest round of punishing international sanctions.

“So far we have overcome all these challenges and none of them managed to bring (Iran) to its knees,” Khamenei said. “We have stood firm and strongly treaded our course.”

Syrian army and security officers detained and tortured children with impunity during the past year, a rights group said in a report Friday, as it urged the United Nations to take action.

The Human Rights Watch report comes as the U.N. Security Council considers a draft resolution intended to pressure Syria to end its months-long crackdown on anti-government demonstrators — and as violence continues unabated in Syria.

At least 28 people were killed across Syria on Friday, including three children and three defected soldiers, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activists.

A Security Council meeting ended Thursday evening without agreement on the text of the draft, according to U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice.

However, Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, told reporters that the draft resolution had been agreed upon and would be sent to the governments of Security Council members for consultation, according to Russia’s state-run news agency RIA Novosti.

“We have the text which we shall send to our capital cities and will wait for the result,” Churkin said.

Human Rights Watch urged the Security Council “to demand that the Syrian government end all human rights violations.”

Syria must also be made to cooperate with monitoring teams sent by the Arab League and the U.N. Human Rights Council, the global monitor said.

“Children have not been spared the horror of Syria’s crackdown. Syrian security forces have killed, arrested, and tortured children in their homes, their schools, or on the streets,” said Lois Whitman, children’s rights director at Human Rights Watch.

“In many cases, security forces have targeted children just as they have targeted adults.”

The organization said it has documented at least 12 cases of children detained under inhumane conditions and tortured, as well as children shot while in their homes or on the street.

“Human Rights Watch has also documented government use of schools as detention centers, military bases or barracks, and sniper posts, as well as the arrest of children from schools,” a statement from the group says.

The draft of the resolution discussed Thursday had dropped demands from an Arab League plan for Syria to form a unity government and for President Bashar al-Assad to delegate power to his deputy.

“We had what I would characterize as sometimes difficult but ultimately useful discussions,” Rice told reporters. “We’re still working. This is not done.”

She said the Moroccans, who submitted the original draft, would come back with another version that could be voted on. “In any case, there are some still complicated issues that our capitals will have to deliberate on and provide each of us with instructions on.”

Pakistan’s U.N. ambassador, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, insisted Thursday evening that council members “are two words” apart on agreeing on the text.

Before the talks, Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby said that even a watered-down resolution would pressure the Syrian government.

U.N. diplomats said the changes reflected a big concession to Russia, which has been reluctant to sign on to any plan that could be seen as a mandate for regime change in Damascus, as occurred in Libya after it signed a resolution calling for a no-fly zone.

Russia, which has said it is concerned about the prospect of a Syrian civil war and does not want al-Assad pushed from power, has made clear it will not accept an arms embargo or economic sanctions.

A call for other nations to follow the Arab League members in adopting measures such as sanctions against Syria had also been dropped from the latest version of the draft resolution.

French Ambassador Gerard Araud had said he hoped to have the text finalized by the end of Thursday and suggested that a vote could happen as soon as Friday, or Monday if necessary. Other diplomats suggested that a vote over the weekend was possible.

U.S. and European diplomats insisted that the revised text still fully endorsed the Arab League plan and that it did not need to spell out every detail to have the same meaning.

“It will still put pressure on the Syrian government, because they realize that Russia cannot stand up forever. And they are under great pressure now. And, you know, Russia does not want to be against the people,” Elaraby said.

Asked why Libya was seen as a case for international intervention because of the threat of a massacre, whereas Syria has seen thousands of deaths but no intervention, Elaraby cited the situation on the ground, the geopolitical location of Syria, the fact it has a strong, regular army — “and, maybe, there is no oil in Syria.”

The economic element could be a factor, he suggested, especially in a year when the United States and France are holding presidential elections and when Europe is in the grip of a debt crisis.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday: “This is not Libya, the situation is different, what we are looking to do is to support the plan of the Arab League, which is quite clear on how a peaceful Syrian lead transition could go forward.”

At least 7,100 people, including 461 children, have died since the start of the Syrian uprising in March, according to the Local Coordination Committees.

The United Nations estimated in December that more than 5,000 people have died since March. But the global body has not been able to update that figure because of the insecurity.

CNN cannot independently confirm opposition or government reports from Syria because access to the country is limited.

Gunmen in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula have kidnapped two American women tourists, Egyptian security sources say.

They were travelling in a small bus with three other tourists from St Catherine’s monastery on Mount Sinai to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh when it was stopped by the gunmen.

One official told the Reuters news agency that the men wanted a ransom.

Bedouins kidnapped 25 Chinese workers in northern Sinai earlier this week, but released them unharmed after a day.

They were demanding the release of fellow tribesman who were jailed after the 2004 bomb attack at the resort of Taba that killed 31 people.

Search operation

The Americans were reportedly travelling through the Wadi al-Sual area of Sinai, about 40km (25 miles) from St Catherine’s, when a vehicle carrying masked men armed with machine-guns forced the bus to stop.

The gunmen took the tourists’ money and valuables before grabbing the two women, forcing them into a vehicle and fleeing into the mountains.

Their Egyptian tour guide was also kidnapped, AFP news agency said.

The three other tourists who had been in the bus were left behind.

Police teams assisted by a military plane are searching for the Americans, state television reported.

One officer believed the kidnappings were meant to pressure the authorities to release Bedouins detained for their role in kidnapping the Chinese workers; others said the motive was financial.

Tribesmen in Sinai have been involved in a series of confrontations with security forces in recent months.

A gas pipeline from Egypt to Israel has also repeatedly been sabotaged, though Sinai’s tourist resorts have remained largely secure.

At least two people have been killed in the latest unrest in the Egyptian capital Cairo, amid continuing anger over 74 deaths after a football match in Port Said on Wednesday.

Many Egyptians blame the authorities for failing to protect fans.

A demonstrator and a soldier died on Friday as clashes continued outside the interior ministry, with police firing tear gas at stone-throwing crowds.

Violence on Thursday left two dead in Suez and hundreds injured.

Revenge for revolution?

The latest bout of unrest began on Wednesday, after a pitch invasion in Port Said, when Cairo’s visiting al-Ahly side were attacked after losing to the local al-Masry side. Seventy-four people died and over 1,000 were injured.

Most of the dead were believed to be al-Ahly supporters. Hardcore fans – known as “ultras” – have accused the authorities of allowing the killings to happen.

They say the authorities wanted revenge because the ultras were among those battling the police during last year’s revolution that ousted strongman leader Hosni Mubarak.

Anger over the deaths has combined with widespread frustration at the pace of reforms undertaken by Egypt’s interim military rulers.

On Thursday, about 10,000 protesters gathered outside the interior ministry, where they clashed with security forces preventing them from reaching the building. Hundreds were injured, health officials said.

The BBC’s Yolande Knell in Cairo says protesters spent the night dismantling concrete security walls erected around the ministry last November after a previous outbreak of unrest.

Thousands gathered outside the ministry on Thursday and became embroiled in angry clashes with security forces. Officers used tear gas to disperse the crowds.

The health ministry said more than 1,000 protesters were injured, some with broken bones, most suffering from tear gas inhalation. Some 54 police officers and soldiers were also reported injured.

Spreading unrest

By Thursday night, the unrest had spread across the country. Two people were shot dead in Suez as a crowd of hundreds attempted to overrun a police station.

On Friday, protests resumed outside the interior ministry in Cairo, where at least one protester was reported dead. A soldier also died from injuries sustained on Thursday, state media said.

In Alexandria, a protest march is heading for the regional offices of the military government.

Protester Wael Nawara told the BBC’s Network Africa programme that many middle-ranking officers loyal to the former president were still in charge at the ministry and were “conspiring against revolution”.

“There have been many calls throughout the last few months of restructuring the ministry of interior to bring the officers who are responsible for earlier deaths to trial, but nothing really has changed much in the behaviour of the ministry,” he said.

The government has dismissed several senior officials in response to the football deaths.

Port Said’s director of security and the head of investigations were suspended and are now in custody.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister says his country “cannot support” a draft United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria.

According to the Interfax news agency, Gennady Gatilov said that despite changes that took some of its concerns into account, Russia could not support the text in its current form.

“This is not enough for us,” he said.

The resolution, drafted by European and Arab countries, endorses an Arab League plan for Syria.

Diplomats at the UN Security Council have watered down a resolution on Syria in an apparent attempt to overcome Russian objections to an earlier draft.

The new text drops explicit reference to a call for President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power, a key part of an Arab League plan.

The Russians have argued that this demand would impose regime change.

However the new text still supports what it calls the League’s “decision” to facilitate political transition.

Western diplomats say this means that while the draft no longer mentions the details of the Arab plan, it still clearly backs the substance.

The revised draft – seen by the BBC – also removes a paragraph calling on member states to act to prevent the flow of arms into Syria. This was another clause opposed by Russia even though it does not impose an arms embargo.

Ambassadors began intense negotiations on Wednesday, after a high-level meeting urging the council to back the Arab plan to end the Syrian crisis.

Diplomatic sources say Western states may support the new text – drawn up by Morocco – if it gets a yes vote from Russia, rather than an abstention, according to the BBC’s Barbara Plett at the UN headquarters in New York.

So far the Russians have been non-committal, she says.

‘Consensus’

Human rights groups and activists say more than 7,000 people have been killed by Syrian security forces since the uprising began in March.

On Wednesday, diplomats said discussions had been positive, with US Ambassador Susan Rice saying talks had been conducted in a “constructive and roll-up-your-sleeves manner”.

However, she also admitted that the call for Mr Assad to delegate powers to his deputy remained “one of the more difficult issues”.

Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin also said progress had been made, saying: “I think we have a much better understanding of what we need to do to reach consensus.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had earlier said Council members must decide whether they supported the Syrian people or “a brutal, dictatorial regime”.

Russia, a key ally of Syria, has continued to send weapons for use by the Assad government despite the uprising.

In Moscow, a top defence ministry official said there were no plans to halt such deliveries.

“As of today there are no restrictions on the delivery of weapons and we must fulfil our obligations”, said Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov, according to Russian news agencies. “And this what we are doing.”

Hama anniversary

Meanwhile, security forces in the central Syrian town of Hama have closed public squares and set up checkpoints.

The move came after protesters splashed red paint in the streets to mark 30 years since an uprising there was crushed by Mr Assad’s father Hafez, with the deaths of at least 10,000 people.

“They want to kill the memory and they do not want us to remember,” said an activist in the city, where residents said tanks blocked main squares to prevent demonstrations.

“But we will not accept it,” the activist told Reuters news agency.

Mr Assad’s forces have been fighting back against rebels – in recent days claiming back suburbs of Damascus and areas north-west of the capital.

At least 43 people were killed by security forces on Wednesday, according to one activist group.

The UN stopped estimating the death toll in Syria after it passed 5,400 in January, saying it was too difficult to confirm.

The government says at least 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed combating “armed gangs and terrorists”.

Demonstrators angered by the deaths of 74 people after a football match in the city of Port Said on Wednesday have clashed with police outside the Egyptian interior ministry in Cairo.

Hundreds have been injured, state-owned Egyptian TV reported.

Earlier, the Egyptian prime minister announced the sackings of senior officials in Port Said and at the Egyptian football association.

Funerals of some of the victims took place in Port Said.

Wednesday’s riot began when fans invaded the pitch after a football match involving top Cairo club al-Ahly and the Port Said side al-Masry.

Slogans and stones

In Cairo, people gathered in the streets around Tahrir Square, the focal point of last year’s protests which led to the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak.

Demonstrators, many of them al-Ahly supporters known as Ultras, used metal barriers and vehicles to close the square.

Thousands then marched to the interior ministry, some 500m (547 yards) away. Some chanted slogans against Egypt’s military rulers, while others threw stones.

Police responded with tear gas, causing hundreds to run away.

Motorcycles ferried the injured from the scene as ambulances were unable to get through.

Channel 1 of Egyptian TV, which is state-owned, said 382 people had been injured, of whom 266 were taken to hospital, while the remainder were treated on site.

TV pictures from Cairo showed crowds outside the barricades which surround the interior ministry.

Earlier on Thursday, parliament met in emergency session, beginning with a minute’s silence.

Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri told MPs the head of Egypt’s football association had been sacked and the board dissolved, with its members referred to prosecutors for questioning.

Port Said’s director of security and the head of investigations were suspended and are now in custody, Mr Ganzouri said.

The BBC’s Jon Leyne, in Cairo, says there is a mood of extreme bitterness. Many supporters believe police were incompetent, or actively provoked the unrest.

Police in Egypt have been keeping a much lower profile since last year’s popular protests.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood – which has emerged as Egypt’s biggest party in recent elections – blamed ex-President Mubarak’s supporters for the violence.

Crowds are gathering in Cairo as tension rises after riots in the city of Port Said on Wednesday which left at least 74 people dead.

Angry fans blocked Tahrir Square. Others are marching in protest at the handling of the riots by police.

Three days of national mourning were declared over the riot, in which fans invaded the pitch after a football match involving top Cairo club al-Ahly.

The cabinet and parliament are meeting, and Port Said’s governor has resigned.

Egypt’s public prosecutor has ordered the questioning of 52 people arrested after the riots, as well as the Port Said governor and the city’s security chief, who was sacked earlier.

Parliament opened with a minute’s silence. Speaker Mohamed Saad al-Katatni said the riots were the “work of the devil” and that Egypt’s revolution was “in danger”.

Funerals were expected to be held after noon (10:00 GMT) prayers in Port Said.

All Egyptian premier-league matches have been postponed indefinitely, and reports say the leadership of the country’s football federation has been sacked.

The Confederation of African Football said a minute’s silence would be held at the quarter-final matches of the African Cup of Nations at the weekend.

World football body Fifa said it was “in mourning” and had asked Egypt for a full report on the incidents.

‘Rage in their eyes’

Demonstrators, many of them al-Ahly supporters known as Ultras, used metal barriers and vehicles to close Tahrir Square, the scene of huge protests last year which led to the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak.

Others are marching from the club’s headquarters towards the interior ministry.

The BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo says there is a mood of extreme bitterness. Many supporters believe police were incompetent, or had actively provoked the unrest.

“People are really angry, you could see the rage in their eyes,” al-Ahly supporter Mohammed Abdel Hamid told the BBC.

Our correspondent says Egyptian fans are notoriously violent, particularly the Ultras.

They have been heavily implicated in confronting the police during recent political protests, he adds, and there is speculation that the security forces may have had an interest in taking them on.

Police in Egypt have been keeping a much lower profile since last year’s popular protests.

On Wednesday night hundreds gathered at Cairo’s main railway station to receive the injured and the first bodies arriving from Port Said, with some chanting slogans against military rule.

“They were beating us from inside and outside, with fireworks, stones, metal bars, and some had knives,” one fan told a private TV station.

Army units were deployed in Port Said and joined police patrols around morgues and hospitals, but most streets had no police presence.

The army has set up checkpoints at entrances to the city.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of Egypt’s ruling army council, went to an airbase near Cairo to meet al-Ahly players who were flown back from Port Said on a military aircraft.

“This will not bring Egypt down… These incidents happen anywhere in the world. We will not let those behind it go,” he said, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Police overwhelmed

Our correspondent says it appears some fans had taken knives into the stadium, and the lack of the usual level of security in the stadium might have contributed to the clashes.

Wednesday’s violence broke out at the end of the match, which Port Said club al-Masry won 3-1.

Witnesses said the atmosphere had been tense throughout the match – since an al-Ahly fan raised a banner insulting supporters of the home team.

As the match ended, people flooded onto the pitch attacking al-Ahly players and fans.

A small group of riot police tried to protect the players, but were overwhelmed.

Part of the stadium was set on fire.

Officials say most of the deaths were caused by concussions, deep cuts to the heads and suffocation from the stampede.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood – which has emerged as Egypt’s biggest party in recent elections – blamed supporters of ousted President Hosni Mubarak for the violence.

In Cairo, another match was halted by the referee after news of the Port Said violence.

It prompted fans to set parts of the stadium on fire, though no casualties were reported and the fire was quickly extinguished.

It’s usually well after midnight before Bahrain takes a breather.

The thud of riot police stun grenades trails off, the stinging tear gas mist is carried away and the protest chants against the Gulf kingdom’s rulers go quiet until the next day. Then the cycle of unrest resumes in one of the longest-running — and perhaps most diplomatically complex — chapters of the Middle East uprisings.

“Egypt, Tunisia, Libya,” demonstrators now shout during running battles with security forces. “Bahrain’s leaders are next.”

A year ago this month, Bahrain’s majority Shiites took inspiration from the Arab Spring to sharpen long-standing grievances against the Sunni monarchy, accused by Shiites of relegating them to second-class status in the Western-allied nation. Within days of the first protest march, Bahrain was sliding into a crisis that would bring more than two months of martial law, more than 40 deaths, hundreds of arrests and ongoing clashes so disruptive that the U.S. Embassy last month relocated workers into safe haven neighborhoods.

But the troubles also reach far beyond the tiny flame-shaped island off the Saudi coast. The past year has turned Bahrain into a crossroads for every major showdown in the region.

Drawn into the mix is Saudi Arabia as protector of Bahrain’s Sunni dynasty. Archrival Iran is an angry bystander at the fierce crackdowns on fellow Shiites. And the U.S. is Bahrain’s conflicted partner.

Washington watches the violence with growing unease but is fearful of souring relations either with the Saudis or Bahrain’s leaders who host the Navy’s strategic 5th Fleet — one of the Pentagon’s main counterweights to Tehran’s military.

“The international paralysis over Bahrain has, if anything, become more pronounced with the rising tensions over Iran’s nuclear program,” said Toby Jones, an expert on Bahraini affairs at Rutgers University. “It’s every tough problem in the region funneled into one small place.”

It also highlights the intense difficulties facing the West — and Washington in particular — if pro-reform rebellions someday spread further in the Gulf.

The Gulf Arab states, anchored by Saudi Arabia, are critical front-line allies against Iran. Any threats to the Gulf’s autocrats would be perceived in the West also as an assault on important political interests.

“It was much easier for the U.S. to cut loose (former Egyptian President Hosni) Mubarak than it would be with any of the Gulf states,” said Christopher Davidson, an expert on Gulf affairs at Britain’s Durham University. “The Arab Spring is definitely weighing heavily on the minds of Gulf rulers and their Western partners.”

For the moment, Gulf dissent outside Bahrain is limited to long-running political disputes in Kuwait and recent protests by minority Shiites in Saudi Arabia, where rioters threw firebombs at police last month after the killing of a demonstrator. It’s clear from Bahrain, however, that Gulf rulers will strike back hard at any whiff of opposition.

A Saudi-led military force moved into Bahrain last March to help prop up the overwhelmed Al Khalifa dynasty, which has its ancestral roots among Saudi tribes. The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council later began studying closer defense cooperation — both to bolster against perceived Iranian threats and as a united front against internal opposition.

In the view of Gulf Arab leaders, Bahrain is the ultimate red line.

Safeguarding the 200-year-old Sunni hold on power is seen as an act of self-preservation. If Bahrain’s rulers lose their grip, the thinking goes, then the domino-style risks grow for other rulers from Kuwait to Oman. Adding to the collective hard line: They accuse Bahrain’s Shiites of offering a cozy foothold for Shiite giant Iran — even though an independent report on Bahrain’s unrest found no evidence of links to Tehran.

That hasn’t discouraged Gulf officials from brandishing Iran as the string-pullers of the Bahrain unrest. In an interview in Davos, Switzerland, Saudi Prince Turki Al Faisal, a former intelligence chief, told The Associated Press that Iran is “going behind our backs” to spark revolt in the region.

Days later, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, denounced the “double standard” policies of Western powers to back other Arab uprisings but keeping a distance from Bahrain’s Shiites to protect their strategic interests.

American officials, speaking privately, have cast doubts on the Gulf Arab narrative that Iran is behind the Bahrain protests — a theme also pushed by the army of international public relations consultants hired by Bahrain. Washington, instead, has urged for more talks with both sides and has put a “pause” on a proposed $53 million arms sale.

Earlier this week, however, Washington said it would sell some military equipment, without disclosing any further details.

“Washington is clearly unwilling to move this to the next level by using whatever political and military leverage it has to strong arm Bahrain’s leaders,” said Jones, the professor. “The U.S. doesn’t buy into the idea that Iran is waiting in the wings in Bahrain. But it also cannot appear to be going against its deep alliances with the Gulf Arabs.”

Bahrain’s protesters display no pro-Iranian slogans or banners.

But they indirectly echo Iran’s anger toward Saudi Arabia, which Tehran regards as an unwelcome “occupying” force in Bahrain. At Manama’s airport, the green Saudi and red-and-while Bahraini flags are displayed with crossed staffs. Pro-government Sunnis adorn their cars with bumper sticks mixing the two country’s national colors.

“We feel we are a colony of Saudi Arabia now,” said 30-year-old Ameera Mohammad, who joined other women chanting anti-government slogans last week in the Shiite district Diraz. “The government has lost its legitimacy.”

The overall aims of Bahrain’s protesters are packaged in equally rejectionist terms. They demand the monarchy cede its control of the government and allow Cabinet officials — including the prime minister — to reflect the votes in a nation about 70 percent Shiites, but with Sunnis in firm control of all policies and security. In attempts to offset the lopsided demographics, Bahrain’s rulers for years have granted citizenship to Sunnis from the Arab world and South Asia and jobs that include security posts.

The king, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, has offered a series of reforms, including plans to give more decision-making powers to parliament. But overhauling the heart of government does not appear an option.

This locks Bahrain into its current seesaw battles, which show signs of intensifying toward the anniversary of last year’s opening protest march on Feb. 14.

Protesters recently have tried to push out of Shiite districts and onto highways and business zones in the capital, Manama. Firebombs and steel pipes have joined the barrages of rocks against security forces.

Calls have gone out to reclaim Pearl Square, the hub of the early weeks of the rebellion before it was stormed by security forces. Demolition crews then knocked down the landmark six-pronged monument — one leg for each of the Gulf Arab states — and ringed the area with razor wire and round-the-clock patrols.

Each Friday, the most senior Shiite cleric, Sheik Isa Qassim, delivers rallying cry sermons that have grown in frustration as authorities have stepped up crackdowns and sentenced Shiite activists and others to prison. Last month, he urged followers to “smack” any officials seen harassing women — who have increasingly taken prominent roles in the protests.

“We will continue to struggle,” said Sheik Ali Salman, head of the biggest Shiite opposition bloc, which withdrew its lawmakers from parliament in protest. He listed the flashpoints of the Arab Spring — Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya and Egypt — in a stern rebuttal to the king’s reform outlines in December.

“It reminds us of the presidents who were toppled by the people,” he said. “We waited a year to a have this speech, and it’s as if nothing happened in Bahrain and the Arab Spring.”

The streets tell a different story. Hit-and-run battles are now a near daily event in some areas with tear gas so intense that it’s been blamed for respiratory failure among some of the nearly 40 deaths from the unrest. Some rights groups have placed the total at 45 or higher.

Last month, Amnesty International urged Bahraini authorities to investigate claims of excessive tear gas use “including in people’s homes and other confined spaces.”

Protesters counter by carrying cartons of milk to douse their eyes and neutralize the burn of the tear gas. On Sitra island, a hotbed of Shiite protests, more protesters have starting wearing white shrouds symbolizing their willingness to die.

“It’s a war between dictatorship and democracy,” growled a 29-year-old demonstrator, Mohammad Ali.

In another part of Bahrain, Sadeeqa Mirza says her life changed during the arrest sweeps during 10 weeks of martial law. She claims she was beaten in custody and charged for anti-state actions as part of the occupiers of Pearl Square.

“I was arrested because I am Shiite. I went to Pearl Square to express my views,” she said. “Expressing your views is not a crime, but in Bahrain it is.”

At least 40 Egyptians were killed Wednesday in violence following a soccer match in Port Said, when fans flooded the field seconds after a match against a rival team was over, Egypt’s Health ministry said.

It was one of the worst incidents of sports violence in Egypt in decades.

A security official and a medic said fans of the home team, Al-Masry, swarmed the field after a rare 3-1 win against Al-Ahly, Egypt’s top team. They threw stones, fireworks, and bottles at the fans and injured some players.

A medic at a morgue in Port Said, a city on the Mediterranean coast, said some of the dead were security officers. He was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

The causes of the deaths were not immediately known.

The ministry’s statement about 40 dead was carried on state TV.

The players were later taken to the locker room for protection, Sayed Hamdi, a player told state TV.

Soon after the violence, a soccer game in the Cairo Stadium between the Al-Ismailiya and Zamalek teams was called off in mourning for the violence in Port Said.

State TV showed video of sections of the Cairo stadium on fire. The announcer said angry fans of the Zamalek protested the cancellation and set some sections of the stadium on fire.

Rival Libyan militia groups have fought a gun battle in the capital, Tripoli, officials say.

Exchanges of fire were heard and plumes of smoke seen coming from a district known as Tariq Al Shat in central Tripoli, eyewitnesses said.

A BBC reporter who drove past the area later said the fighting had ceased.

An interior ministry official told Reuters news agency the fighting was between militiamen from the city of Misrata, and a group from Zintan.

The two militia groups fought together to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi last year.

Several militias from outside the capital have set up bases in Tripoli and regularly clash as they fight for control of parts of the city.

The country’s interim National Transitional Council (NTC) is struggling to reassert its authority.

The latest clashes took place near the coast, close to the Corinthia Bab al-Africa and Marriott hotels.

“Misrata controls a police academy building up the road and they are fighting with Zintan. We do not know why they are fighting,” interior ministry Naji Awad told Reuters.