UNITED NATIONS - The United States is "locked and loaded" to strike again if Syria's President Bashar al-Assad's government again uses chemical weapons, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the Security Council on Saturday.

"We are confident that we have crippled Syria's chemical weapons program. We are prepared to sustain this pressure, if the Syrian regime is foolish enough to test our will," she said.

"If the Syrian regime uses this poison gas again, the United States is locked and loaded," Haley said.