REUTERS

UNITED NATIONS: Since unrest erupted in Syria eight months ago, more than 3,500 people have died in a crackdown by President Bashar al-Assad on protesters who want his overthrow, according to the United Nations.
More than 60 people have been killed by the army and security forces since Assad's government signed a peace plan sponsored by the Arab League last week, with the military campaign now focusing on resistance in the city of Homs.

Yet the outside world has done relatively little to end the violence, prompting comparisons with Libya, where a United Nations Security Council resolution in March led to military intervention by NATO that helped rebels take over in August.
Following are questions and answers about what the international community has done about Syria, why it has not done more, and what it might yet do:

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE SO FAR?

The United States, the European Union and Switzerland have slapped sanctions on Assad, his relatives and key aides, as well as on firms that are believed to fund his government. These include asset freezes and travel bans and also target the energy sector. Syria's neighbor Turkey has threatened but not so far imposed sanctions. Western governments have called on Assad to leave power and have waged a campaign of diplomatic harassment, for example by keeping Syria off the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The Security Council in July condemned attacks by people believed to be pro-Assad loyalists on the U.S. and French embassies in Damascus. Otherwise it has taken no action, paralyzed by differences between the West on the one hand, and Russia, China and some developing nations on the other. Last month, Russia and China -- which both have long-standing political and economic ties with Damascus -- vetoed a Western-drafted resolution that condemned Damascus and threatened possible future sanctions.

The Arab League said on Nov. 2 that Syria had agreed to an Arab plan requiring a complete halt to violence, the release of prisoners and the removal of troops from the streets of Syrian cities to allow a national dialogue. Syria says it has released around 500 detainees under a conditional amnesty announced last week, but the violence has continued.

WHY HAS THE RESPONSE BEEN WEAKER THAN IN LIBYA?

The Arab League requested the Security Council to impose a no-fly-zone over Libya, leading to the March resolution that also called for protection of Libyan civilians by all means necessary. The request was key, forcing veto-holders Russia and China to abstain, which allowed the resolution to pass. There has been no similar move from the Arab League over Syria. Moscow and Beijing were apparently taken aback by the way the resolution translated immediately into Western cruise missiles raining down on Libya and NATO warplanes decimating the forces of former leader Muammar Gaddafi. They and emerging powers Brazil, India and South Africa accused the West of twisting the resolution to promote a goal of regime change in Libya and vowed they would not let that happen again.

Analysts say Gaddafi antagonized and insulted other Arab rulers, who were keen to see him gone. Assad has not done likewise, even if there is little love for him in parts of the Arab world. The situation in Syria -- where Assad and key members of his elite are minority Alawite Muslims while the majority is Sunni -- is also fraught with the prospect of sectarian conflict, dreaded by Arab leaders. That was not the case in Libya. And Syria, with its Golan Heights occupied by Israel, casts itself as a front-line state and can portray any action against its leadership as benefiting the Jewish state, touching a raw nerve for most Arab leaders.

Western officials say they too have broader considerations that ruled out from the start a Libya-style operation in Syria, restricting them to condemnation and sanctions. Libya is oil-rich but its location in North Africa is hardly strategic. Syria, by contrast, is close to the epicenter of the Middle East's most intractable problems and Western military intervention there could have dramatic consequences for Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey, among others. And for all Damascus's harsh anti-Israeli rhetoric, Western powers believe the Sunni opposition, should it topple Assad by force, would not necessarily be more sympathetic to Israel, and could be even less so.
"We do not seek further militarization of this conflict. Syria is not Libya," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman told a Nov. 9 Congressional hearing in Washington.

WHAT CAN STILL BE DONE?

U.S. and EU sanctions can always be ratcheted up, with new names of individuals and organizations added to the target list.
European nations, backed by the United States, are also planning to introduce a resolution in the U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee that would insist on rights monitors in Syria.

And ultimately, Western powers say that unless the violence ends in Syria it will have to come back to the Security Council sooner or later. Whether they will be able to achieve more in the council than they have so far is likely to depend on whether the Syrian conflict becomes so critical that it persuades the Arab countries, Russia and China that tougher action is needed.