Assad wants power and control over Syria, obviously. The guy has few appealing exile options. Most of the regime's members would face execution if they lost, so they don't want that.
This is a President's prerrogative. Why is US preventing this to happen?
And which half a dozen countries are you talking about exactly, that aren't already screwed?
I'm a non-interventionist myself, but it isn't an absolute position. Accepting years long conflict isn't good for anyone either.
Coming to think of it, the US resembles an oligarchy more than anything else. Perhaps Russia should start arming rebels in the US?
On the other hand nobody has anything worthwhile to say really, including myself, since we know next to nothing. I just wish that at the very least people become more conscious of when they know nothing and merely regurgitate the sound bites they've heard often enough to have memorized and internalized them.
Another issue with the shallow feel-bad event-based stories is that they are much more easily manipulated than actual deep analysis of the background behind conflicts.