Israel is increasingly concerned that Damascus’s stockpile of chemical weapons could “become a part of the Syrian crisis,” a government official said Monday, Dec 17, explaining comments on the matter Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made prior to meeting visiting Republican senator-elect Ted Cruz from Texas.

According to The Jerusalem Post, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement following the meeting, underlining the chemical weapons issue.

According to the statement, Netanyahu told Cruz – on his first visit to Israel – that Washington and Jerusalem share not only common values, but also common dangers.

“One of these dangers is the unfolding events in Syria,” he said. “We’re monitoring very closely the possibility of the use of chemical weapons in Syria. [U.S.] President [Barack] Obama has spoken forcefully about this. Israel and the United States have close consultations about this issue and it highlights the dangers of these regimes receiving such weapons, and that these weapons can even go from there to terrorist organizations. This is a threat to Israel, a threat to America, a threat to others in this region. We treat it accordingly.”

Meanwhile, Damascus said it is “genuinely worried” that some countries might equip extremist groups with chemical weapons and then claim they were used by the Syrian government, the country’s UN envoy said in a letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council.