Jordanian militant threatens Assad regime in Syria

The Assad regime made similar public statements of cooperation when it signed on to Annan's peace plan, only to frequently ignore or outright violate its commitments by refusing to pull its troops out of cities and cease its shelling of opposition areas.

Makdessi was implicitly referring to France and Arab countries, like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which Damascus accuses of supporting the rebel Free Syrian Army fighting Assad's military onslaught.

Makdessi said the only way to end the Syrian conflict is a "cease-fire by all parties." He said Assad's army will pull out from the streets "once there is a political process as it is now in a state of self-defense and to protect the civilians."

In Jordan, security officials say in private that Abu Sayyaf's group comprises several hundred activists. The group regularly faces crackdowns and arrests, but longterm detention without the filing of criminal charges — a tactic that has been used by other Arab states to keep radical Islamists in prison indefinitely — is not regularly used against the Islamists.

Syria's rebels enjoy widespread sympathy across Sunni Arab countries. Western officials say there is little doubt that Islamist extremists, including fighters from other Muslim countries, have made inroads in Syria as instability has spread. Al-Qaida-style suicide bombings have become increasingly common.

Many of the foreign jihadists going to Syria are believed to come from Iraq, but in June Jordanian police said they arrested two members of Abu Sayyaf's group near the northern border as they tried to cross into Syria.

In his speech, Abu Sayyaf condemned "crimes" committed by Assad's ruling Alawite minority against the majority Sunni Muslims in Syria and said the situation there "prompts us to jihad."

"Take your dirty hands, which are stained with the blood of innocent people, off Sunni Muslims in Syria, or face our deadly attacks," he said. The crowd of about 200 responded with cries of "Allahu Akbar," or God is great.

The rally demanded the release of 40 jailed group members convicted of crimes, like Foley's assassination, links to al-Qaida and terror plots in Jordan, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Syrian uprising, which began in March 2011 with mostly peaceful protests calling for change, has turned into a civil war. Activists put the death toll at 23,000.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights — a Britain-based monitoring group — said fighting raged across Syria on Sunday, with at least 28 reported killed and scores wounded.

It said an air raid on a residential district in the commercial capital of Aleppo in the north killed at least four people, wounded several more and flattened a residential building. The Free Syrian Army said the strikes came hours after rebels overran army barracks in the Hananu neighborhood.

Activists also reported clashes between government forces and rebels in a Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus, in the central city of Homs, in the northern city of Idlib and in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour.

The Observatory said the heaviest fighting was taking place in Homs, where two bombs exploded in a bus, killing and wounding several military officers and civilians. It did not elaborate.

The Syrian state news agency put the death toll in the explosion at four, including a woman. It said a roadside bomb struck the bus as it was traveling toward Damascus along the Mussyaf-Homs highway. It said the explosion wounded 35 people and left a large crater in the ground.

Associated Press reporter Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.

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