In a press conference on Friday afternoon, President Barack Obama's last of 2016, he fielded questions about the heartbreaking plight of residents in eastern Aleppo . An evacuation that would have allowed thousands to leave the area collapsed early this morning when gunfire erupted, and tens of thousands are still awaiting rescue. Did Obama feel a personal moral responsibility for the suffering of Syrians?Gravely, he responded, "I always feel responsible... I ask myself, is there something I can do that would save lives and make a difference?" But while it's tempting to want to do the right thing, there is a marked absence of support for military intervention, Obama cautioned, and without committing a large number of U.S. troops on the ground, he was not able to act on "the impulse to want to do something."In the interim, the president said, what we can do is keep the eyes of the world on Aleppo and put pressure on Russia and the Syrian government to allow for the rescue of those trapped in the city. Russia and the Bashar al-Assad administration in Syria are claiming that everyone is already out, Obama said, when we know that tens of thousands still remain.Indeed, Twitter has been awash with messages from residents desperate to leave.