Report: Syria prepares sarin nerve gas bombs for possible use

The Syrian military has loaded the precursor chemicals for the lethal nerve gas sarin into bombs that could be dropped by Syrian Air Force planes, NBC News reported on Wednesday, citing U.S. officials.

The officials said the Syrian military was prepared to use chemical weapons against the Syrian people and was awaiting orders from President Bashar al-Assad.

According to the U.S. officials, the sarin bombs have yet to be loaded onto airplanes and Assad has not issued a final order to use them. But one official said that if Assad did issue an order for the bombs to be used, “There is little the outside world can do to stop it."

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said the U.S. was worried that an "increasingly desperate" Assad could resort to the use of chemical weapons against rebels, or lose control of them "to one of the many groups that are now operating within Syria."

Clinton said the U.S. had made it clear to Syria that the use of chemical weapons would be a "red line."

Speaking at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Clinton said the Syrian government was on the brink of collapse.

"Ultimately, what we should be thinking about is a political transition in Syria and one that should start as soon as possible," Clinton said. "We believe [the Assad government's] fall is inevitable. It is just a question of how many people have to die before that occurs."

Syria refuses to acknowledge possession of chemical arms but has said repeatedly it would not use such weapons on its own people, though it might against foreign attackers. NATO countries and Israel say Syria has stocks of various chemical warfare agents at four sites.

Syrian rebels who have been fighting for the past 20 months to topple Assad have recently overrun some Syrian military bases. Radical Islamist groups, which included foreign jihadi fighters, are a powerful force in the revolution.

Israeli Vice Prime Minister and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon said on Wednesday that Assad had previously responded to warnings about the security of chemical weapons by taking steps to keep them out of the hands of militants.

Ya'alon joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in making clear that Israel is as concerned about chemical weapons falling into the hands of anti-Assad insurgents as it is about such weapons being used by the Syrian government in the civil war.

"Together with the international community, we are closely monitoring developments in Syria regarding its stores of chemical weapons," Netanyahu said on Tuesday. "Such weapons must not be used and must not reach terrorist elements."

In an interview with the Walla news website that was posted on his Facebook page on Wednesday, Ya'alon said: "There is speculation that the chemical arsenal will fall into the hostile and irresponsible hands of the likes of al-Qaida or other terrorist groups."

"In the past, clear messages were relayed to Assad on a number of occasions, and in response Assad gathered up the weaponry and separated the materials," Ya'alon said.

Also on Wednesday, a mortar shell fired from Syria landed near an Israel Defense Forces position in the Golan Heights. As in previous similar incidents, the IDF believes the shell was not intentionally fired into Israel, but rather it went astray. The border area has been the scene of fighting between the Syrian military and rebel forces. The IDF did not return fire on Wednesday but it did submit a complaint to U.N. forces stationed in the area.

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