U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday reiterated a stern warning to the Syrian government not to use chemical weapons against rebel forces.

"Our concerns are increasingly desperate Assad regime might turn to chemical weapons or might lose control of them to one of many groups that are now operating within Syria," Clinton said after her last attendance of NATO foreign ministers' meeting.

She said using chemical weapons against Syrian rebel forces would be a "red line" and those cross it would be held accountable.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of "consequences" in using chemical weapons in the Arab country's 21-month conflict.

"The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable, and if you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons there will be consequences and you will be held accountable," Obama said.

As for NATO's decision to deploy Patriots missiles along Turkey-Syria border, Clinton said "it does send a clear message to the Syrians that Turkey has full support of its NATO allies."

Clintion repeated that the deployment would be only for defensive purposes, not offensive ones.

In addition, she said a political transition in Syria should start as soon as possible and the Assad regime should be a part of it.

"We hope that they (the Assad regime) do so. We do believe their fall is inevitable, it is just a question of how many people will die until that day occur," she said. Endi

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