Syria’s civil war is buried beneath the headlines these days, as Israeli forces pound the Gaza Strip, Ukraine struggles with the downing of a commercial jet with 298 people on board and much of Iraq has been taken over by Al-Qaeda-inspired extremists. Libya, meanwhile, is literally going up in flames.

Even with 1,400 Gazans killed over the past few weeks, Syria has not lost its title as home to the world’s deadliest conflict. During a 10-day stretch in mid-July, a record 1,800 people were killed, as the death toll from three years of fighting climbs past 170,000. And as the United States wrangles for a cease-fire to stem the latest violence in Gaza, there seems less hope than ever for a diplomatic solution to Syria’s bloodshed.

The difficulty with Syria is not just that international diplomacy is bogged down elsewhere, working to stave off violence that is viewed as more solvable than the Syrian stalemate. The problem, analysts say, is that for quite a while now, Western resolve to pressure the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has all but dissolved.

Washington and its allies are unwilling to front the tens of billions of dollars or decades of commitment that would be required to guarantee a rebel victory. After three disastrous rounds of peace talks and the resignation of a frustrated United Nations mediator, many in the rebel camp feel their most important backers are ready to let the chips fall where they may.

“The international community knows very well that there is nothing called a diplomatic solution to the Syrian war,” said Ali al-Amin al-Suweid, a political officer with the Syrian Revolution General Commission, an opposition group. “They just use this refrain to justify delaying any action in Syria.”

In part, the problem is one of geopolitical priorities. While Assad has enjoyed the unwavering support of Iran and Russia, Washington and its allies have been unable to muster comparable willpower to keep Syria’s floundering opposition alive. In Israel, Washington has no choice but to back its staunchest ally in the region. In Ukraine the West wants to combat Russian aggression by backing the pro-European government in Kiev. Washington even has a reluctant ally in Baghdad and is deeply committed to keeping oil-rich Iraq together, given U.S. complicity in the current turmoil.

In Syria, however, “there’s no good choice,” according to Joshua Landis, a Syria expert and the director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. “Its a broken country with no future, no resources and a lot of militias that are diametrically opposed to American values,” he said.

“We armed the mujahedeen [against the Soviets] in Afghanistan in the ’80s and lived to regret that decision. We should’ve let Russia keep it. Now we look at Syria and say, ‘Why take that away too?’”