A Kuwaiti newspaper said Sunday that President Barack H. Obama had warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against using chemical weapons that he has stockpiled. According to reports, Assad has taken some of the weapons out of storage with the intention of deploying them against rebel forces if the tide of battle turns too severely against him.

There is also fear that Assad will transfer the weapons to Hizbullah or other terror groups. According to weekend reports, Assad has moved some of the weapons to the Syrian port city of Tartus, one of the areas he expects to remain under Alawite control if he is forced to resign and Syria disintegrates into several states, as some observers expect.