What can be done in Syria?

It's utterly heartbreaking isn't it...and shameful that the west hasn't really done anything effective although I don't know what the answer is. I saw a clip earlier of a man saying"I hope you can do something...I hope you will save my child" "crying"

I think Obama has been treading too lightly afraid to make a bold move. First Assad needs to be removed from power. A no fly zone would stop Russia from air bombing and killing thousands of people. As long as the Russians are bombing Assad stays in Power.

This is why Putin wanted Trump. Trump won't do anything and Putin will do what he wants there, including keeping a government in power that kills women and children fleeing for safety.

Yes. Russia is firmly behind keeping Assad in power. 

After that, it gets incredibly complicated as to who is backing who. Here is an infographic map that will make you wonder how anyone can keep it straight.  click if you want your brain to explode...

Russia is helping Russia. I don't believe Putin cares one whit about Syria or it's people.

For our country to institute and enforce a no fly zone over Syria would mean we would have to go to war with Syria.  We have no authorization over their sovereign country or their air space. The Obama administration doesn't want to declare war with another middle east country. And our country doesn't want it either.

There is no good answer.  The west as a whole sat back and watched this country dissolve into civil war years ago.
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This is my opinion on Syria from a previous thread:

First off, the conflict in Syria is so multi-faceted and murky, the question of what to do and how to help Syria is akin to how do you scale Mt. Everest! Most importantly, Russia needs to get out. PERIOD! They need to have ZERO involvement in Syria. IMO as well as many others, believe that Russia is involved for geographical/strategic purposes. Syria would be Russia's only "base" or access to the Mediterranean. Not only that, there is a large natural gas deposit in the Mediterranean. Putin is no friend to the Muslims, so you must ask yourself what business do they have in that region. Also, I firmly believe Russia is behind trying to destabilize Turkey as well.

Next off, Assad needs to go. He is a brutal dictator and has slaughtered his own people. You also have Kurds that are fighting to take over this region as well and claim it as their own. Throw in the bat shit crazy ISIS that needs to be wiped off the map and you have a real cesspool of bad guys. There is opposition forces that are made up of the Syrian people, but it is very hard to know who is who. I think that a "no fly zone" needs to be established as well. The opposition forces need to be supported, but again, that is very tricky to make sure that whatever support is provided does not end up in the wrong hands.

Having said all that, I do think that America's involvement should be very limited and definitely no boots on the ground. I think where the US needs to get involved is putting on the pressure to Putin to stay the hell out of there. But that seems highly unlikely as Trump is quite favorable to Putin. It is my fear that he will let Putin do as he pleases.

Many may think that it is not of a big concern to the States, but I think this is a very critical conflict. Do we really want Russia to have strategic access to the Mediterranean? I do not think for ONE second Russia will stop there once they have taken over Syria. I also do not trust for ONE second that Putin will stay so nice with the US. I firmly believe Putin is playing a very careful chess game and is in it for the long haul. Out of all the world leaders, he is who I distrust the most.

It is going to take a very skilled and diplomatic hand to navigate the Syrian conflict. I honestly do not have confidence in Trump's present offerings for Secretary of State. I can only hope that will change.

Scarce resources.  That is the underlying source of every conflict. Whether that resource is land, water, love, shelter, power. Never enough to go around. And I am a part of the problem. So are you. We all want lives of comfort, hot water at the tap, warmth, safety. But we haven't figured out a way for all to get the basics - let alone more than that. Instead we seem hell-bent on making the disparities worse and further funneling more and more of the world's wealth to smaller and smaller percentages of the population under the mistaken assumption that to do otherwise is evil "wealth redistribution" or "social engineering."

Thank you for raising this issue @iamkristini16.  It has been on my mind for days that as I fret over holiday events, food, etc, 4 mo. old children are dying of cold. I don't know what we do. Other than something other than we've done. More donations to Doctors w/o Borders, more agitation for peace and health and safety and less for hatred, war and fear. But, other than that, I've got few ideas.

This breaks my heart. Is there a way for us to sponsor refugees even if they aren't welcomed into the US? What kind of aid can we offer that will actually help?

I sponsor children through Compassion International. Syria is not an option for them. One of my children is in a country where the government has been hijacking the funds & aid sent, so that the program there is about to close. Each time I think about it, I break down crying that this girl I've written and supported since she was 9 will possibly be left without aid at 15 in a country where girls are not valued at all.

It's the children's faces who haunt me.

I agree, people say the US should get involved, but that usually leads to more problems. Either we aren't doing it right, we are causing more issues or they resent our interference.

We are in a no win situation when it comes to wars and civil unrest in other countries.

Thank you! I know what I'm going to ask for if someone wants a wish list. And I'll send a donation. If others have more ways to help, let us know.

And those sleeping bags are being made by other Syrian refugees. Please consider donating to this organization if you are able. 

There are more groups to help at this article.