The top U.S. military officer is going to Israel and Jordan next week for a visit focused in part on Iran and the war in Syria, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will meet in Israel with his counterpart Benny Gantz to discuss advances in Iran's nuclear program, which Israel regards as an "existential threat."

Jordanian border guards on Tuesday arrested two Syrians as they tried to cross into the kingdom carrying automatic weapons, a military spokesman said.

"The border guards arrested two Syrian men at dawn who were carrying automatic weapons and trying to illegally enter Jordan from Syria through a rugged border area," he told Agence France Presse.

Syrians who flee their war-torn country face recruitment as child soldiers, sexual violence, and exploitation for labor, the U.N. refugee agency warned Tuesday, saying lawlessness in camps was driving exiles home.

In a report on aid efforts for the more than 1.8 million Syrian war refugees, mostly in neighboring Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, UNHCR spotlighted the raft of ills they face.

Norway has closed its embassies in Saudi Arabia and Jordan to the public due to threats of attacks by al-Qaida, the foreign ministry said Monday.

The Scandinavian country has also raised the security level at other diplomatic missions in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as sensitive locations such as Nairobi, the ministry said.

Jordanian border guards have foiled an attempt to smuggle large amounts of weapons and drugs into the kingdom from Syria, the army said Friday.

"Forces of the frontier guard yesterday evening (Thursday) seized large quantities of munitions and different types of drugs during an attempt to smuggle them into the kingdom," the army said in a statement.

Tunisia offered asylum to Islamist cleric Abu Qatada before his deportation from Britain to face terror charges in the kingdom, a Jordanian MP said on Monday.

Mohammad Hjuj told Agence France Presse he was among a group of MPs who met last Monday the Jordanian cleric in jail.

A military court on Sunday rejected a bail application by Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, who faces terror charges in Jordan following his deportation from Britain, his lawyer said.

"The state security court today refused to release Abu Qatada on bail," Taysir Diab told Agence France Presse.

Jordan's king on Saturday became the first head of state to visit Egypt since the army ousted its Islamist president, whose supporters pressed protests after a night of deadly clashes.

King Abdullah II, who faces challenges at home from Islamists, was among the first leaders to congratulate Egyptians after the military overthrew president Mohammed Morsi in a popularly backed coup on July 3.

Angry refugees Thursday urged the United States to do more to end the war in Syria as they met top U.S. diplomat John Kerry during a landmark visit to the Zaatari camp in Jordan.

Kerry first overflew the camp by helicopter, surveying thousands of tents and trailers lined up on the desert sand about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from the Syrian border in what has now become the fifth largest city in Jordan.

Parched Jordan on Wednesday officially inaugurated a near-billion-dollar project to supply the capital with water from an ancient southern aquifer to help meet a chronic shortage.

King Abdullah II pushed the start button to begin pumping water from the 300,000-year-old Disi aquifer, 325 kilometers (200 miles) south of Amman.