"He hasn't got much longer to adhere to this plan but the plan isn't dead, it is still
possible for a ceasefire to be observed."
"The Arab League foreign ministers are quite right to call for President Assad to depart."
"Torturing opposition leaders, laying siege to cities, slaughtering thousands of unarmed
civilians including children."
"The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable.
If you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons there will be consequences and you
will be held accountable."
"It's not a question of 'if' Assad leaves it's a question of when."
A lot of the boxes for military intervention in Syria have already been ticked and there's
an increasing suggestion that chemical weapons are being used.
In this video Doctor Niazi Habash says he believes the patients he is treating are victims
of a chemical attack in Northern Aleppo and that he's awaiting results to confirm his
hypothesis.
The US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has said their intelligence believe the Syrian government
has used Sarin gas on a small scale, but so far they haven't released what that evidence
is.
The Free Syrian Army says it has conclusive proof using soil and blood samples that President
Assad's regime has used chemical weapons against his own people.
The United Nations is carrying out its own investigation into whether Sarin has been
used so why haven't the West intervened yet?
Here are just a few possibilities.
In more than two years since the start of the conflict the Syrian opposition has become
completely chaotic to the point that its not just people fighting for freedom against a
despotic leader.
There is a power structure for the FSA in theory but in practice it doesn't hold much
sway.
Brigades are fighting for their own reasons in their own regions and any sense of cohesion
is seen as an illusion.
Groups like the al-Qaeda linked Iraqi Brigade Jabhat al-Nusra are now amongst the most successful
and prominent.
This video they uploaded claims to show them attacking a chemical weapons factory.
So there's a chance that military intervention could end up supporting the very people that
the West doesn't want to see gain ground on the world's stage.
Russia and China are against military intervention so all attempts to pass UN resolutions for
action in Syria have been frustrated.
Most of the international community is in agreement that Assad should go but Russia
and China argue that forcefully removing him would be an even worse option for the Syrian
people.
Cash plays a big part.
Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the intervention in Libya amongst others were or still are
expensive and at a time where economies are struggling, to put it mildly, can anyone really
afford another one.
Iraq and Libya might have removed brutal dictators from power but even now they're far from stable
because of it.
There's sectarian violence, in fighting and deadly attacks on an almost daily basis.
Sectarian violence has also become a feature of Syria's civil war and there's nothing to
guarantee that intervention in Syria would be any different.
And then there's Iran, Syria's closest ally and the country that most needs President
Assad to stay in power.
Religious links between Iran's Shi'a and Alawite leaders are often bought up but the main player
is geopolitics.
Tehran sees Syria as a buffer against the West particularly the US and Israel.
It's a gateway to influence in other Arab states and a helping hand against internal
instability in Iran.
The US in particular is doing everything it can to stop Iran getting nuclear weapons and
this does have an effect on whether they get involved in Syria.
Some experts say that intervening in Syria would demonstrate to Iran that the US means
business while others think that the current chaos is already serving to sever the links
between the two.
Another obstacle is that Assad does still have support in Syria but you don't often
hear about it in the Western media.
The figures aren't reliable but it's a sizable part of the population that wants him to remain
in power and reform.
It's easy to dismiss these guys as brainwashed followers but many Syrians living outside
the country also continue to support the dictator.
This is by no means an exhausted list for why the West may or may not intervene in Syria.
We want to hear your thoughts about this.
Why hasn't the West got involved in the same way they did with Libya?
Let us know your thoughts about it in a comment.
Would Syria be a better place for intervention?
Should the West keep their hands off of Syria?
As ever we want to hear your thoughts about this.
Hit subscribe if you haven't already and check out some of the other great content we've
done about Syria over there.
We'll see you again next time.