Problem is, you can't protect the innocents when the crossfire is still going on. At the root of this is not a desire to get involved on either side per se, but the problem of whether involvement will stop said crossfire. My take is that any foreign intervention will just get both sides shooting at you, and the innocents will still get killed.
As perhaps with many civil wars, the only options for the innocents are to flee the warzone or to cease being innocents and choose sides.