By Steve Kastenbaum, CNN Radio

The horrific footage of executed children lined up in a neat row in Houla prompted an immediate outcry from diplomats around the world. The U.N.’s representative to Syria led the call.

“We are at a tipping point. The Syrian people do not want the future to be one of bloodshed and division,” special envoy Kofi Annan said earlier this week. Soon, others adopted the tipping point theme as they expelled senior Syrian diplomats from their countries.

Listen to CNN Radio's Steve Kastenbaum report on the massacre

The gut wrenching images seemed to be moving the international community toward intervening in the nearly 15-month conflict. But was it really a tipping point or just one well publicized atrocity no different than many others that have taken place this past year in Syria?

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