At the end of a tumultuous year in which strongmen across the Middle East were toppled, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria is still standing, still killing his people. And leaders in Russia, China and Arab states still haven’t done enough to pressure him to stop. The United Nations says more than 5,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in the brutal government crackdown in nine months of protests.

Mr. Assad brushed off international pressure until the Arab League belatedly weighed in last month and imposed sanctions. Only then did he agree to withdraw troops from residential areas and start a dialogue with the opposition. But that move seems like another ploy to buy time as he tries to beat Syrians into submission.

It wasn’t until Monday — and hundreds of deaths later — that Mr. Assad accepted a plan for Arab League monitors to assess whether he is abiding by his commitments. Even as the monitors were en route to Syria this week, Mr. Assad’s security forces killed at least 160 more civilian protesters and army defectors. To produce credible results, the observer mission will need unrestricted access to all conflict areas in Syria and make all of its findings public. There is little reason to believe Mr. Assad will allow it. Meanwhile, Russia is still tying the United Nations Security Council in knots and preventing it from doing what it should have done months ago: condemn Mr. Assad’s bloody reign and impose tough economic and trade sanctions on him and his cronies in the military and the business community.

The United States and Europe imposed their own sanctions on Syria, but Russia and China in October vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have only condemned Syria’s crackdown. Last week, Russia surprised the Council by proposing a new resolution calling on both sides to halt the violence, with no sanctions. It is clearly an effort to shield its ally from tougher penalties.