The next President needs to take meaningful action in Syria

As presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump debated last week, Syria was a sideshow. Clinton mentioned the country in passing; Trump ignored it altogether.

While they sparred over responsibility for the Islamic State, neither candidate mentioned Aleppo, a city of 2 million people reduced to rubble and under siege. At least — unlike Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson — they knew what Aleppo was. President Obama hotly rebuffs those who say his hesitancy to enforce redlines or support a no-fly zone made the Syria conflict worse.

Obama, Trump, Democratic runner-up Bernie Sanders, and even former President Bill Clinton, meanwhile, have all quipped at one point or another that the United States can’t be the world’s policeman.

Still, Syria’s plight tugs at the heartstrings.

Almost 5 million refugees have fled their homeland, and millions more are displaced internally. The United Nations estimated 400,000 dead; an equal number have disappeared. Girls who once aspired to be doctors or lawyers now find themselves forced into child marriages in Jordan and Turkey.