WASHINGTON—Beyond daily condemnations, the Obama administration is handcuffed from doing much, if anything, to stop Syria from slaughtering its people.

This observation surfaced as the Associated Press reported that troops led by President Bashar Assad’s brother regained control of Jisr al-Shughour on Sunday, sending in tanks and helicopter gunships after shelling the town. But residents were still terrified; more than 6,000 Syrians have sought sanctuary in Turkey, nearly all of them in the past few days from Idlib province.

In Altinozu, Turkey, two Syrian refugees gave a bleak picture of life across the frontier. “There are 7,000 people across the border, more and more women and children are coming toward the barbed wires,” said Abu Ali, who left Jisr al-Shughour. “Jisr is finished, it is razed.”

Syrians poured across the border Monday to refugee camps in Turkey, fleeing a military crackdown that sent elite forces backed by helicopters and tanks into a northern town that was spinning out of government control.

The United States doesn’t have the kinds of economic, military or political ties it could marshal into effective diplomatic pressure in Syria, as it did in Egypt. And it probably couldn’t muster the kind of allied military action that it did against the Libyan regime.

The Libya campaign showed that Nato is a weakened force that might not be able to mount a second simultaneous operation. Then, too, there’s precious little popular support in the war-weary US for more military action. And there’s no agreement internationally to go after Syria, either in the Arab League or in the United Nations.

Last but not least, Saudi Arabia opposes any move to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad. As the world’s top oil producer and a key US ally in the region, Saudi Arabia has sway with the White House.

“The United States,” said Aram Nerguizian, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, “has few levers to pull.” After a weekend of increasing government violence against the Syrian people, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on Monday issued his third condemnation in four days. But he left the door open to Assad staying in power, refusing to say that he’s lost the legitimacy to govern, as the White House said of Libyan dictator Qaddafi.