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The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' ground forces kicked off a "massive" set of war drills Thursday as the country unveiled its own homemade version of Russia's advanced S-300 missile defense system in yet another showing of Tehran's growing readiness for a possible war.

Iranian military leaders said the war games will mix with actual fighting as the IRGC forces seek to cleanse what they described as "anti-revolutionary terrorist groups" from along the country's borders. The operations follow an attack on IRGC units in July that killed one and injured one other.

"The drill is a real one because the battlefield, enemy and the fighters are real," Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the IRGC's ground force, was quoted as telling the country's state-controlled press. "Some terrorists might be hiding at the bordering areas and they will be targeted during the Qadir drills."

The eruption of a “supervolcano” underneath Yellowstone National Park would be like nothing humanity has ever seen, according to an op-ed from The New York Times.

There are 20 supervolcanoes on Earth that represent that greatest natural threat to human life, writes 'End Times' author Bryan Walsh.

Washington (AFP) - Amazon, Microsoft and Intel are among leading tech companies putting the world at risk through killer robot development, according to a report that surveyed major players from the sector about their stance on lethal autonomous weapons.

Dutch NGO Pax ranked 50 companies by three criteria: whether they were developing technology that could be relevant to deadly AI, whether they were working on related military projects, and if they had committed to abstaining from contributing in the future.

"Why are companies like Microsoft and Amazon not denying that they're currently developing these highly controversial weapons, which could decide to kill people without direct human involvement?" said Frank Slijper, lead author of the report published this week.

Fighter Jet laser weapons are on the fast track, expected to bring new air attack options to “burn holes” through enemy targets at the speed of light. Not only are laser weapons fast, precise and low weight and drag, but they will bring a more stealthy, quiet attack advantage against air and ground targets, among other things. This is well known and ground testing of several programs are already underway with the Air Force Research Lab, the Office of Naval Research and numerous service entities involved in ground testing and ultimately flying the weapons.

Meanwhile, the Navy is concurrently developing a laser-application for its Marine Corps F-35B intended to effectively maintain the stealth fighter for future decades of war. Recognizing that the aircraft is, one might say, in its operational infancy and expected to fight until at least 2070 - the Marine Corps F-35 variant was the first of the three to enter service. Also, many of the existing F-35Bs have certainly been flying long enough to benefit from sustainment efforts.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States will take every action it can to prevent an Iranian tanker from delivering oil to Syria in contravention of U.S. sanctions, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned on Tuesday. 

“We have made clear that anyone who touches it, anyone who supports it, anyone who allows a ship to dock is at risk of receiving sanctions from the United States,” Pompeo told reporters. “If that ship again heads to Syria we will take every action we can consistent with those sanctions to prevent that.” 

The Adrian Darya - formerly the Grace 1 - left Gibraltar on Aug. 18 and ship-tracking data showed the vessel was heading towards the Greek port of Kalamta. 

Israel has conducted several strikes on Iranian-controlled bases in Syria and Iraq in recent weeks with permission from the United States and Russia, a Western diplomatic source told a Saudi-owned newspaper Wednesday.

Moscow and Washington agreed that the Jewish state could conduct these attacks on Iranian targets in order to “ensure Israel’s security,” the source told the London-based Arabic-language Asharq Al-Awsat.

In recent weeks, a number of explosions have been reported in Iraqi military installations connected to pro-Iranian Shiite militias, including on Tuesday night in an arms depot north of Baghdad.

Four airstrikes against Iranian-backed Shi’ite militia bases in Iraq in the last month represent a new front that appears to be developing against these groups, however they remain shrouded in mystery. On Tuesday, an explosion destroyed munition storage near Balad Air base in Iraq. 

Israel’s Channel 12 reported on the explosion. It is now clear that it could be a new front line, the report noted. The mysterious airstrikes have targeted storage of rockets and is aimed at groups backed by Iran. The first strikes hit Camp Ashraf and Amerli and the third struck Camp Falcon near Baghdad. The first two areas were not far from the Iranian border. These are sensitive areas and are associated with areas that militias seek to store their weapons, many of them stockpiled during the war on ISIS. However, it is not clear how the strikes were carried out; some media and locals have reported drones and others suggested it could be the F-35.

There has been complete silence in Israel regarding the air strikes, however, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly asked about them in Ukraine. Israel has warned in the past about Iranian entrenchment in Syria. Netanyahu said in July that the F-35 can reach Iran. Sumer News in Iraq has reported in Arabic that Netanyahu hinted Israel was behind the strikes. Al-Ain news reported that the base was linked to Ktaib Hezbollah, one of the militias in Iraq closely linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Israeli and American naval special forces completed a large-scale exercise in the Mediterranean Sea last week simulating the takeover of a merchant ship carrying illegal weapons and contraband, as Iran and a US-led coalition square off on shipping routes in the nearby Persian Gulf.

The Israeli military said the exercise, Noble Rose 2019, was not in direct response to these tensions.

Israel’s elite naval commando unit, known in Hebrew as Shayetet 13, participated in the drill alongside US Special Forces. An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson refused to comment on the precise number of troops that took part in the exercise, but said it was “larger than what we’ve done before.”

Eight major record-setting catastrophes that occurred during the GHW Bush, Clinton, GW Bush, Obama and Trump presidencies.

The 'God of Israel' will not allow an Arab State in Judea and Samaria.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed boasts by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah of the terror group’s military strength and ability to defeat Israeli troops Saturday.

In a televised speech Friday marking the anniversary of a 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, Nasrallah claimed that the conflict had helped his groups develop “a military system to defend our villages, towns and cities.”

“If [Israel] enters southern Lebanon… you will see a live broadcast of the destruction of Israeli brigades,” he warned.

(Bloomberg) -- Yemeni rebels attacked oil and gas facilities at the Shaybah field in southeast Saudi Arabia, but failed to disrupt production.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Aramco as the company is known, extinguished a small fire at a natural gas liquids plant at Shaybah on Saturday morning, it said in a statement. There were no casualties and oil operations were not interrupted by the incident.

“We will provide further details as they become available,” the company said.

Yemen’s Houthi rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi claimed the drone attack in a televised speech. He said the strike was meant to deliver an “important message” to the Saudi-led coalition which has been waging war to unseat the Iran-backed Houthi rebels since they overran the capital about four years ago. The attack is “a joint strike against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” according to a tweet published by Houthi-owned al-Masirah TV.