Syria's battle for bread

"Syrian refugees say to me: 'Why has the world abandoned us?'" 
Because their leaders would rather see a weakened Assad drain resources and credibility from the Russians; and so they make out to their people that this is a choice between costly and uncertain intervention, and letting someone else take care of the problem. If they armed the Free Syrian Army, there could be an end to this, but it is the interests of many parties, including the UN, to obscure that.