Against the background of extreme tensions over Iran’s nuclear program and the upheavals of the Arab Spring, Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman present a fresh history of Israel’s respected and feared intelligence agencies in their new book, Spies Against Armageddon: Inside Israel’s Secret Wars.

When Raviv and Melman unearth new details about Israeli spies planted in Cairo and Damascus and assassinations by the Mossad in those and other Arab capitals, they reveal why Israeli intelligence is confident that it can strike at enemies almost anywhere, extending their tiny country’s surprising power on a global scale, while seeking to keep a self-imposed commitment to protect the Jewish people worldwide.

Yet the authors also suggest that most of Israel’s bluster, toward Iran, may well be bluff meant to get the world’s attention.

Dan Raviv is a CBS News correspondent with a Mideast specialty. He is the co-author of the New York Times best seller Every Spy a Prince.