Obama warns of extremist threat in Syria

AMMAN, Jordan -- Anxious to keep Syria's civil war from spiraling into even worse problems, President Barack Obama said Friday that he worries about the country becoming a haven for extremists when -- not if -- President Bashar Assad is ousted from power.

Obama, standing with Jordan's King Abdullah II at a joint news conference, said the international community must work together to ensure there is a credible opposition ready to step into the breach.

"Something has been broken in Syria, and it's not going to be put back together perfectly immediately -- even after Assad leaves," Obama said. "But we can begin the process of moving it in a better direction, and having a cohesive opposition is critical to that."

He said Assad is sure to go but there is great uncertainty about what will happen after that.

"I am very concerned about Syria becoming an enclave for extremism," Obama said, adding that extremism thrives in chaos and failed states.

Obama said his administration is working with Congress to provide Jordan with an additional $200 million in aid this year to cope with the massive influx of refugees streaming into the country from Syria.

Abdullah said the refugee population in his country has topped 460,000 and is likely to double by the end of the year.

Obama, who came to Jordan after visiting Israel and the West Bank, also said he would "keep on plugging away" in hopes of getting the Israelis and Palestinians to reach a peace agreement.

"The window of opportunity still exists, but it's getting more and more difficult," the president said. "The mistrust is building instead of ebbing."

Before leaving Israel, Obama paid his respects to the nation's heroes and victims of the Holocaust. He solemnly reaffirmed the Jewish state's right to exist.

Accompanied by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, Obama laid wreaths at the graves of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism who died in 1904 before realizing his dream of a Jewish homeland, and former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995.

He also toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, declaring afterward that it illustrates the depravity to which man can sink but also serves as a reminder of the "righteous among the nations who refused to be bystanders."

Friday's stop at Herzl's grave, together with Thursday's visit to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, the ancient Hebrew texts, were symbolic stops for Obama that acknowledged a rationale for Israel's existence that rests with its historical ties to the region and with a vision that predated the Holocaust. Obama has been criticized in Israel for his 2009 Cairo speech in which he gave only the example of the Holocaust as a reason for justifying Israel's existence.

Obama and Netanyahu met for two hours over lunch. An Israeli official said that they discussed Israel's security challenges and that, in addressing the peace process with Palestinians, Netanyahu stressed the importance of security.

Obama also squeezed in a stop in Bethlehem in the West Bank to visit the Church of the Nativity.