Jordan on Sunday announced the start of military exercises involving more than 8,000 soldiers and observers from 19 different countries, but insisted the manoeuvres were unrelated to the conflict in neighboring Syria.

Around 4,500 U.S. troops and 3,000 Jordanian soldiers are taking part in the air, land and sea "Eager Lion 2013" exercise, which lasts until June 20.

Jordan gave a "final warning" to Syria's ambassador Thursday that he would be declared persona non grata if he continues to insult the kingdom, in a sign of growing tensions between the neighbors.

"Syrian Ambassador Bahjat Suleiman has violated all diplomatic norms through his condemned behavior and statements against Jordan," Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told state-run Petra news agency.

Jordanian border guards on Thursday foiled an attempt to smuggle a large haul of weapons from Syria into the kingdom, the army said.

"The border guards arrested a group of people at dawn on Thursday as they tried to smuggle a large amount of weapons from Syria into Jordan," state-run Petra news agency quoted an army statement as saying.

Jordanian prosecutors on Tuesday charged 13 men with carrying out "terrorist" acts for their alleged roles in riots in the southern city of Maan over a double murder there.

Military state security court prosecutors accused the 13 suspects from the restive city of carrying out "terrorist acts by using flammable materials (in the riots) as well as rioting and unlawful assembly," a court official told Agence France Presse.

The United States will send a Patriot missile battery and F-16 fighters to Jordan for a military drill and may keep the weapons there to counter the threat posed by Syria's civil war, officials said Monday.

The Patriot missile launchers and F-16 warplanes "were approved for deployment to Jordan as part of Exercise Eager Lion," the spokesman for U.S. Central Command, Lieutenant Colonel T.G. Taylor, said.

Jordanian authorities arrested 13 people in the southern city of Maan on Monday after riots and clashes with police over the murder of two men there, an MP said.

"Police arrested 13 people today and referred them to the (military) state security court," Maan MP Amjad al-Khattab told Agence France Presse.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is to visit Amman "within days," Jordan's top diplomat said on Sunday after talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas focused on U.S. peace efforts.

Speaking at a joint press conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said his talks with Abbas had focused on Kerry's intensive efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks after a hiatus of nearly three years.

Businesses in Jordan's restive southern city of Maan closed on Sunday in an act of "civil disobedience" after overnight clashes with police over the murders of two residents, an MP and witness said.

"Civil disobedience in Maan is growing after the authorities failed to arrest the killers of two people," Maan MP Amjad al-Khattab told Agence France Presse, saying the killings took place five days ago.

The Russian government on Thursday earmarked 10 million dollars in aid for Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan that will be paid through the United Nations in the year 2013.

“In 2013, around 10 million dollars will be earmarked as a contribution to the budget of the the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), with around 6.5 million dollars in support for the Lebanese government and around 3.5 million dollars in support for the Jordanian government,” read a resolution issued by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

A Jordanian military tribunal on Monday jailed nine Muslim extremists who were planning to go to neighboring Syria to fight for jihad, a court official said.

"Today, the state security court initially sentenced nine Salafist jihadist for five years' hard labor each. But it immediately reduced the sentences for six of them to two-and-a-half years' hard labor," the official told AFP.