United States officials say the embattled Syrian dictatorship of Basar al-Assad is preparing batches of chemicals used to make sarin gas, a deadly chemical weapon.
The international community widely condemned the action, but there is fear that a desperate Assad will use the gas against rebels in his own country.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Syria against using weapons of mass destruction.
"I'm not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people. But suffice it to say, we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur," said Clinton.
"There is no doubt that there is a line between even the horrors that they have already inflicted on the Syrian people and moving to what would be an internationally condemned step of utilizing their chemical weapons," she said.
The Syrian uprising is nearing its two-year anniversary, and over 40,000 Syrians have died so far in a brutal military crackdown by the regime in the wake of more successful revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
The Syrian military has loaded the chemical agents onto warheads and artillery shells.
In response, NATO dispatched troops and Patriot missile batteries along the border in nearby Turkey, in the hopes of intercepting any long-range missiles and preventing any attack on Turkey.
Syria is not a signatory to the chemical weapons treaty banning their use. The regime has acknowledged that it stockpiles chemical weapons, but insists it would never use them on its own people.
In fact, Assad is claiming that the international community is using talk of chemical weapons as an excuse to violate Syria's sovereignty.
"Syria stresses again, for the tenth, the hundredth time, that if we had such weapons, they would not be used against its people. We would not commit suicide," said Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al Maqdad.
"We fear there is a conspiracy to provide a pretext for any subsequent interventions in Syria by these countries that are increasing pressure on Syria."
The regime often engages in doublespeak, so Clinton is proceeding cautiously, though she has said she believes Assad will fall eventually.
"It is just a question of how many people have to die before that occurs," she said.
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