Obama fears Syrian power vacuum Salute: President Obama in Amman, Jordan. President Barack Obama has warned Syria could end up as an enclave of extremism, and pledged $US200 million ($190 million) in fresh aid to ease the refugee crisis on its border. On the final leg of a Middle East tour, Mr Obama held talks with King Abdullah II in Amman on Friday. Jordan's struggle to help 400,000 new refugees meant attention quickly focused on Mr Obama's own policy on the bloody violence threatening to splinter Syria, and his desire to keep America out of another Middle East quagmire. Mr Obama admitted he was worried about what would come next. "I am very concerned about Syria becoming an enclave for extremism because extremists thrive in chaos, they thrive in failed states, they thrive in power vacuums," he said. They're very good about exploiting situations that, you know, are no longer functioning. They fill that gap.