Haaretz, Feb. 11, 2016

As the Syrian tragedy enters its sixth year, the world has plenty of excuses for not putting an end to the carnage.

They all have good excuses. Obama has said in interviews that he has yet to be shown a credible plan through which an American intervention could improve the situation. Merkel, who to her credit has rather recklessly opened up Germany to hundreds of thousands of refugees, is focused on ensuring stability in Europe and not making the Russians too angry. As John Kerry bluntly harangued a group of Syrian human-rights activists last week, “do you want us to go to war with Russia?”

Israel of course, just across the border from Syria, has also done very little, besides offering medical assistance to wounded Syrians on the Golan [....]

Millions of Syrians, those lucky enough to still be alive, are going hungry but there will never be a shortage of good excuses not to intervene on their behalf.