AP EXCLUSIVE: US war games send signal to Assad

Middle Eastern News Photos

U.S. Navy sailors stand in formation aboard the USS Stockdale before maneuvers with the Jordanian Navy in the Gulf of Aqaba, Jordan as part of Eager Lion, a multinational military exercise, Tuesday, June 18, 2013. Under the watchful eye of stern-faced American advisers, hundreds of U.S.-trained Jordanian soldiers are holding war games that could eventually form the basis of an assault in Syria. There is fear of spillover from the Syrian war in this U.S.-allied kingdom, and the potential for a Jordanian role in securing Syria's chemical stockpiles should Bashar Assad's regime lose control. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

More from this Slideshow

0 of 0

AP EXCLUSIVE: US... U.S. Navy sailors stand in formation aboard the USS Stockdale before maneuvers with the Jordanian Navy in the Gulf of Aqaba, Jordan as part of Eager Lion, a multinational military exercise, Tuesday, June 18, 2013. Under the watchful eye of stern-faced American advisers, hundreds of U.S.-trained Jordanian soldiers are holding war games that could eventually form the basis of an assault in Syria. There is fear of spillover from the Syrian war in this U.S.-allied kingdom, and the potential for a Jordanian role in securing Syria's chemical stockpiles should Bashar Assad's regime lose control. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
Syrian warplanes... Gunmen and followers of hardline Sunni cleric Sheik Ahmad al-Assir pass in front of Lebanese army soldiers in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Tuesday, June 18, 2013. Heavy clashes erupted Tuesday between unknown gunmen and followers of a radical Sunni cleric in south Lebanon, security officials said, killing two people in the latest apparent outbreak of violence between Lebanese factions supporting opposing sides in the civil war in neighboring Syria. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Clashes erupt in... Tourism workers and activists in Luxor protest a newly appointed Islamist governor and block his office Tuesday June 18, 2013. Adel el-Khayat was named to the provincial governor's post Sunday by President Mohammed Morsi, causing outrage because of his links to Gamaa Islamiya, which waged an armed insurgency against the state starting in 1992 and attacked police, Coptic Christians and tourists. Tourism is the lifeblood of Luxor but it has been hit hard by the downturn in foreign visitors since the Arab Spring unleashed political turmoil since 2011. Signs in Arabic read, "The plot you are hatching, we will undo" and "leave terrorist." (AP Photo/Ibrahim Zayed)
Kurds fight for ... FILE - In this Sunday, March 3, 2013 file photo, A Kurdish female member of the Popular Protection Units stands guard at a check point near the northeastern city of Qamishli, Syria. Taking advantage of the chaos of the civil war, Syria’s Kurdish minority has carved out a once unthinkable independence in their areas, creating their own police forces, even their own license plates, and exuberantly going public with their language and culture. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo, File)
Bill Clinton: Is... FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2013 file photo, Naftali Bennett, head of the Jewish Home party, touches the stones of the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, in Jerusalem's Old City. The idea of Palestinians establishing a state in the territory they seek has "reached a dead end," Naftali Bennett, economics minister, said Monday, June 17, 2013, in the latest remarks by hard-liners that appear to contradict the country's official support for a "two-state solution" to its conflict with the Palestinians. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner, File)
Fears of violenc... FILE - In this Friday, May 17, 2013 file photo, An Egyptian activist covers her face with an applications for "Tamarod", Arabic for "rebel", a campaign calling for the ouster of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and for early presidential elections, during a protest in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt. Opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president are convinced that nationwide protests planned for June 30 are their last opportunity to drive him from power. They say they have tapped into widespread public discontent over shortages, broken infrastructure, high prices and lack of security, and can bring that anger into the streets. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)