BEIRUT — Receiving a high-level UN delegation on Saturday in Damascus, Syria’s foreign minister blamed the country’s problems on international sanctions and called on the UN to push for lifting the measures, which were imposed to punish the government for its crackdown on prodemocracy protesters that spiraled into armed conflict.

Government forces continued air and artillery strikes in the Damascus suburbs as a top UN official, Valerie Amos, visited the capital to investigate the needs of Syrians during a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people and led more than half a million Syrians to flee the country, with many more displaced inside Syria.