Clinton's 'strong warning' to Assad on chemical arms

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday issued a "strong warning" to the regime of Bashar al-Assad over the potential use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people. "This is a red line for the United States," Clinton said after meeting Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg. "Once again we issue a very strong warning to the Assad regime that their behaviour is reprehensible. Their actions against their own people have been tragic," she added. "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 sufficing to say that we're certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur," the top US diplomat stressed.