Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari, right, listens to speakers during a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Friday, Aug. 3, 2012. With the U.N. Security Council deadlocked over the Syrian crisis, the General Assembly prepared Friday to denounce Syria for unleashing military action against it’s own people, and demand that the Assad regime keep its chemical and biological weapons warehoused and under strict control.BEIRUT – Syria reached out to its powerful ally Russia on Friday, as senior officials pleaded with Moscow for financial loans and supplies of oil products – an indication that international sanctions are squeezing President Bashar Assad’s regime.
The signs of desperation came as resilient rebels fought regime forces in the Syrian capital only two weeks after the government crushed a revolt there. The renewed battles in Damascus show that Assad’s victories could be fleeting as armed opposition groups regroup and resurge.
“The fighting in Damascus today proves that this revolution cannot be extinguished,” said activist Abu Qais al-Shami. “The rebels may be forced to retreat because of the regime’s use of heavy weaponry but they will always come back.”
Syria is thought to be burning quickly through the $17 billion in foreign reserves that the government was believed to have at the start of Assad’s crackdown on a popular uprising that erupted in March 2011. The conflict has turned into a civil war, and rights activists estimate more than 19,000 people.
Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil, who has led a delegation of several Cabinet ministers to Moscow over the past few days, told reporters Friday that they requested a Russian loan to replenish Syria’s hard currency reserves, which have been depleted by a U.S. and European Union embargo on Syrian exports.