Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat described the Russian veto on a U.N. Security Council resolution on the crisis in Syria as “doomed.”

“It formed an alibi for the West to stand idly by… We all know that they can interfere at least to impose a ceasefire and save Homs and the Syrian people,” Jumblat told An Nahar newspaper on Thursday.

Syria will exhaust its foreign currency reserves in three to five months, sparking crisis in an economy reeling from sanctions over its crackdown on protests, a Western diplomat said Wednesday.

"Foreign reserves are down, probably hemorrhaging up to $3 billion (2.3 billion euros) a month," the diplomat told reporters in London.

Iraqi security forces on Wednesday arrested the head of Ansar al-Sunna, a Sunni insurgent group said to be linked to Al-Qaeda, the counter-terrorism chief for Anbar province said.

"Iraqi forces today arrested the leader of Ansar al-Sunna, Walid Khaled Ali, as he tried to illegally infiltrate into Iraqi territory from Syria," Brigadier General Khaled al-Dulaimi told Agence France Presse.

The European Union is set to slap fresh sanctions on Syria, including a ban on Syrian-run cargo flights into the 27-nation bloc, EU diplomats said Wednesday.

"There will be more sanctions announced Monday" when EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels, one source said.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that dialogue on Syria was "futile", the official SPA news agency reported on Wednesday.

Russia should have "coordinated with the Arabs... before using the veto" to block a resolution on Syria in the U.N. Security Council, King Abdullah was quoted as saying.

France on Wednesday demanded access to the victims of an attack in Syria that killed a U.S. war correspondent and French photojournalist, and summoned Syria's envoy to Paris.

Syria has meanwhile denied that it was aware that the journalists had entered the country.

French Ambassador Denis Pietton hoped on Wednesday that the cabinet would resume its functions in implementing reforms after Premier Najib Miqati suspended the government sessions over his accusations that ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun were being unproductive.

“After what I’ve heard from Aoun, I hope that the government would resume its work and activities in implementing reform,” Pietton said after meeting with the FPM chief in Rabieh.

Iraq is mulling options to boost oil exports through Turkey or to reopen disused pipelines in case Iran blocks the strategic Strait of Hormuz as threatened, the planning minister said on Wednesday.

Iran has threatened retaliation for fresh Western sanctions over its nuclear program, including a possible disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a Gulf chokepoint for global oil shipments.

Russia on Wednesday expressed "serious concern" about the humanitarian situation in Syria and said it backed an International Committee of the Red Cross call for a daily two-hour truce that could provide help to civilians.

"We are seriously concerned by incoming reports about the difficult humanitarian situation in Syria," said Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.

Syria's main opposition group on Wednesday urged the international community to create "safe havens" in the country and called on Russia to force the regime to allow access for humanitarian convoys.

At a news conference in Paris, the Syrian National Council said it would attend a summit of the countries known as the "Friends of Syria" and ask for safe zones to protect civilians and allow the opposition to organize.