Syrian rebels have told the ABC they are pressuring the Jordanian government to allow them to launch attacks on the regime from Jordan.

As Syrians stream across the border in increasing numbers, Jordan is being confronted with a series of vexing dilemmas.

Rebel fighters Hamza and Ayman Jamous are among those who have fled to Jordan.

The brothers were badly injured when their home in southern Syria sustained a direct hit from Syrian government forces.

"I was hit, one leg is broken, my jaw was broken, the other leg was fractured," Hamza told ABC's Lateline.

Now they want the rebels to be allowed to use Jordan the way they use Turkey - as a base to strike back at the Syrian army.

"It would help the revolution a great deal. We've been asking for this for a year. If they opened a route for us to go back and forth we'd have enough power to win. Our strength would quadruple," Ayman said.

Jordan's dilemma

It is that sort of request that has Jordan's King Abdullah II on the horns of a dilemma.

He wants Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to go, but he has also spoken against foreign intervention.

"We don't want to turn Jordan into an extension of the conflict in Syria," Jordan's minister of state for communication, Sameeh Ma'ayta, said.

"The minute Jordan interferes militarily all of Jordan will be drawn in and this is a threat to Jordan's interests.

"They are there as individuals and as humanitarian refugees. We did not create the camp for training or to transfer fighters into Syria."

It is such a sensitive issue, members of the Syrian army who have defected to Jordan are kept hidden from view - in a desert camp behind a cement factory.

The camp is housing around 180 officers and 1,000 members of the security forces.

"Any attempt to explore deeply the true nature of these camps and what's happening and how people stand would make the Jordanians very edgy and sensitive," political analyst Labib Kamhawi said.

While the defectors seem happy to languish in the desert, one of their officers, Colonel Mohammad, says they want Jordan to give them weapons as well as refuge.

"Our morale is very high. We would go back at any time if we were given weapons. We don't have weapons and we can't fight without them," Colonel Mohammad said.

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Defectors like Colonel Mohammad argue Jordan cannot afford to hedge its bets on Bashar al Assad.

"A regime that doesn't respect its own people? A leader who kills his own people? Can you trust him to be your neighbour?" he said.

Jordan has just witnessed a series of rare demonstrations denouncing the king over rising costs and the monarchy is no doubt wary that the winds of change could easily blow back across the border.

"It's like playing with fire," Mr Kamhawi said.

"If they get involved it could be that they are inviting the forces of change in Jordan to take over."

For now, Jordan will continue to emphasise its humanitarian role and avoid talk of military assistance for as long as it can.