Israel's ambassador to the United States warned Sunday that any evidence of chemical weapons being passed from the Assad regime to extremist groups like Hezbollah would be a "game-changer," and said that would be a "red line" for Israel.
The remark comes amid claims that the Syrian regime is mixing and moving the components for the deadly sarin nerve gas. Ambassador Michael Oren said he could not confirm those reports but made clear that Israel is watching the situation "very carefully."
"Were those weapons to pass into the wrong hands -- Hezbollah's hands for example -- that would be a game-changer for us," he told "Fox News Sunday."
"We have a very clear red line about those chemical weapons passing into the wrong hands. Can you imagine if Hezbollah and its 70,000 rockets would get its hands on chemical weapons? That could kill thousands of people."
Israel's so-called "red line" is different than the United States'. While Israel considers the "red line" to be the movement of chemical weapons to extremist groups, the Obama administration has said lately that its trigger for action would be any move by Syrian President Bashar Assad to use the weapons against the Syrian people.
The Pentagon and the White House reiterated that stance this past Thursday. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said "there will be consequences if the Assad regime makes a terrible mistake by using these chemical weapons on their own people."
Sources confirmed to Fox News this past week that Syria's military had mixed chemical weapons and loaded them into bombs in preparation for possible use on the Syrian people.
A senior U.S. official told Fox News Wednesday that Syrian forces had loaded bombs with components of sarin gas, a deadly nerve gas. They have 60 days to use these bombs until the chemical mixture expires and has to be destroyed.
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