BEIRUT (AP) — The bravado sounded familiar. Like the leaders of other countries swept away by Arab Spring uprisings, Syrian President Bashar Assad vowed to never be forced into exile and to die in his homeland.

Assad dug in his heels even as world powers move to boost the opposition in Syria’s civil war — the latest turn in a nearly 20-month-old crisis so overwhelming that even the Red Cross says it can no longer cope.