Iran's biological warfare program has surged ahead with the help of the Russians. Intelligence sources say Iran has conducted extensive research on lethal agents such as anthrax, foot and mouth disease and on biotoxins.

"The Iranians will move to a level of lethality that will be the equivalent of a theater nuclear weapon within a couple of years," said Tony Cordesman, co-director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Middle East program. (Ezekiel 38:5)

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is boasting that his government has been secretly mass-producing advanced electronic weaponry. "Today, one of the most advanced military equipment ... is produced in a massive way in factories belonging to the (Revolutionary) Guards," he told Tehran radio. "Without a doubt, the Americans did not even consider it probable that Iran would obtain (this material)." (Psalm 83:4)

Saddam Hussein's armed forces have enough chemical and biological weapons "to destroy the world's population many times over," according to a United Nations report submitted to the Security Council.

Despite Iraq's defeat in the Persian Gulf War, most of this stock has not been destroyed, and, according to the report, some of the toxic substances have been loaded into warheads for shells and missiles.

One foreign service officer exclaimed in astonishment: "They had 10 times the supplies of anthrax agent than we understood at first." (Genesis 16:12)

Syria, Iran and Turkey - three nations depicted in the Bible as forming an endtimes coalition against Israel - have put differences aside to establish themselves as a major regional power center, according to Intelligence Digest.

The prestigious journal warns that if Syria's President Hafez Assad can manage to bring Iraq into this coalition - with or without Saddam Hussein - western influence in the region will be thoroughly undermined. (Ezekiel 38:5)