The Syrian government has passed a bill lifting the emergency law that has been in place for 48 years, as well as a bill dismantling the Supreme State Security Court. The government also approved a bill to “regulate the right to peacefully protest,” but Syrian Interior Ministry made an official statement calling on its citizens not to participate in marches, demonstrations, rallies, or protests of any kind. The statement warned that authorities would reinforce the country’s applicable laws to maintain security and stability. Al-Jazeera reports that eyewitnesses in Homs said that heavy gunfire was heard at dawn and that four people were killed.

The BBC reports that French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé has stated that France strongly opposes sending ground forces into Libya. The United Nations said today that the humanitarian situation in Misurata has deteriorated and the city’s residents have run out of many basic supplies. NATO accused Gaddafi's battalions of using unethical tactics in their fight against the revolutionaries, including dressing in civilian clothes, hiding inside hospitals and schools, and firing on civilians. Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim denied these claims.

Al-Alam sources in Bahrain reported that Saudi tanks and armored vehicles, backed by Bahraini forces, have demolished mosques and prayer halls in the Aker region. The sources also confirmed that Saudi troops stole money from a local mosque’s trust fund in the town of Beni Jamra. The joint Saudi-Bahraini forces continue their arrest campaign, targeting journalists, medics, and lawyers, despite international condemnation. During talks in Manama with US Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman, Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Hamad al-Khalifa confirmed that Saudi and Emirates forces would remain in Bahrain until “foreign threats” are removed.

Dubai TV reports from the southern Jalousie suburb of Paris, where several Muslims are staging a hunger strike in protest of a ban on building a local mosque. The ban was issued under the pretext of violating the country's secular principles. Muslim community members are conducting the hunger strike on the plot of land where the mosque is supposed to be built. The extremely limited space in the Jalousie’s current mosque prompted the local Muslim community to collect donations, buy land, and make plans to build a larger mosque. They then faced opposition from city officials, who are limiting the number of building permits issued.

New TV reports from Gaza City, where a symbolic military funeral was held for Italian activist, Vittorio Arrigoni, who was kidnapped and killed by armed extremists. His body was taken to Egypt and then to Italy for burial after the funeral. The Interior Ministry has announced that it is offering a cash reward to officers and members of the police force to help capture his killers. Police say that they have arrested two suspects and that they are still looking for three others.

The United Nations called for an immediate ceasefire in the besieged Libyan city of Misurata. At a press conference in Benghazi, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs aValerie Amos expressed her deep concern for the situation in Misurata and other regions in Libya. After Amos’ visit to Tripoli, the Libyan government agreed to allow the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to distribute humanitarian aid there. The BBC reports that the humanitarian crisis in Misurata is quickly deteriorating as fighting continues between the revolutionaries and Gaddafi’s forces and the city’s hospitals suffer from a shortage of medical staff and supplies.

The Gulf Cooperation Council met yesterday in Riyadh for a third meeting about Yemen. Yemeni opposition leaders have rejected the GCC’s second initiative and reiterated their commitment to the first initiative as a platform for ending the Yemeni crisis. Both initiatives call for the removal of Ali Abdullah Saleh from office, but in the second initiative, Saleh is to hand power over to his deputy. Meanwhile, violence has broken out in several Yemeni cities. Dubai TV reports that over 28 Yemenis were injured yesterday when security forces and gunmen disguised as civilians opened fire on protestors in Sana'a. Nearly 500 Yemenis sustained injuries from rocks thrown by people being described as "pro-regime thugs."

Al-Jazeera reports that 14 people were killed and about 50 were injured yesterday in protests in the Syrian city of Homs. About 50,000 Homs residents participated in the victims' funeral and chanted slogans calling for freedom, but were once again subjected to heavy gunfire. Even though President Bashar al-Assad announced the formation of a new government, protestors remain unsatisfied and say they will continue to protest until their demands for freedom and reform are met.

Bahrain's February 14th Youth Coalition launched a week-long program yesterday, dubbed the “Week of Steadfastness.” Today, demonstrators will call for a hunger strike in protest of the ongoing actions of Saudi forces and the al-Khalifa regime, including the murder of civilians and the burning the Quran. Protestors will also call for the immediate release of prisoners held captive in the regimes' jails, and reiterate their rejection of the country's emergency law.

Dubai TV reports that rival protests have split Yemen on a day called the “Friday of Persistence” by the opposition, and the “Friday of dialogue” by the regime's loyalists. A group of prominent religious and tribal leaders have declared their support for the protest movement, including the chief of the Hashed Tribe of which Saleh is a member. The opposition has rejected the Gulf’s new proposal to attend mediation talks in Riyadh, because it omitted the article which called for the ouster of President Saleh. Instead, the new initiative calls for Saleh to transfer power to his deputy.  

The “Syrian Revolution” Facebook page called on Syrians to take to the streets today in a demonstration that is also called the “Friday of Persistence.” The BBC reports that protests took place in Damascus, Deraa, Banias, Deir ez-Zor, Homs, al-Qamish, and Latakia. This comes a day after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad announced the formation of a new government and the release of hundreds of detainees. Human Rights Watch has accused Syrian security and intelligence institutions of torturing hundreds of protestors detained during demonstrations throughout the country.

A doctor in the western Libyan city of Misurata said that eight civilians, including children, were killed this morning in a missile attack by Gaddafi’s battalions. Residents say that about 120 missiles hit the besieged city. Al-Jazeera reports that Gaddafi’s forces are using Grad Rockets, which is a kind of rocket that lacks accuracy and causes wide-range destruction. While these kinds of rockets are usually only used in battlefields where there are no civilians, Gaddafi’s forces have been targeting densely populated areas like Misurata, turning the city into a “large graveyard,” where the death toll continues to rise.

Al Alam reports that Bahrainis in Manama are still trying to break through the intense checkpoints around Sulaimaniya Hospital in Manama to allow access to injured people. Meanwhile, Zainab al-Khawaja, the daughter of the detained Bahraini human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, has been on a hunger strike for days and said the authorities are not allowing the families of the detained to contact them. She added that she has sent a letter to US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, holding them responsible for the blatant human rights violations in Bahrain.

Tonight, al-Iraqiya features a report on the 1988 massacre in Halabja. What is known as the al-Anfal Campaign was a genocidal campaign against the Kurdish people in northern Iraq led by Saddam Hussein and the Ba’ath regime. Al-Iraqiya’s report commemorates the anniversary of the massacre in which over 182,000 Kurds were killed and over 4,000 Iraqi villages were destroyed.

Today, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad announced the formation of a new government to be headed by Adel Safar. Current Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem and Minister of Defense Ali Habib will remain in their posts. The change will mostly affect the Interior Ministry, the Ministry of Information, and the Ministry of Finance. According to the BBC, Syrian TV reported that President al-Assad also decided to release all those detained in connection to the latest events with the exception of those who committed crimes “against the homeland and the citizen.”

Al-Jazeera reports on the latest developments in Libya, where Gaddafi forces killed 23 people in the western city of Misurata. A spokesman for the revolutionaries said that most of the victims were killed while they were in line at a bakery to buy bread. The revolutionaries warned of a “massacre” in Misurata if NATO does not intervene by force to protect civilians from more shelling by Gaddafi’s battalions. 

The Bahraini Ministry of Justice has filed lawsuits to disband the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society and the Islamic Action Association, the two main opposition groups in Bahrain. Al-Alam reports that the February 14th Revolutionary Youth Coalition has called for protests in an attempt to break the siege imposed on the Suliamaniyah medical center. The coalition also called for massive sit-ins in front of the local mosques after Friday prayer. Meanwhile, joint Saudi-Bahraini forces have stormed the villages of Karizakan and Beni Jamra, fired tear gas at residents, and cut off the villages’ major roads.

Syria TV reports that a five-year-old girl in occupied Palestine was wounded when an Israeli settler hit her with his car in the West Bank town of Hebron. She was hit while playing near her home and was immediately taken to the hospital.

Today marks the 36th anniversary of the attack on a bus in Ain el-Remmaneh, considered to be the first spark of the Lebanese civil war. To commemorate the day, a group of youths are running a free bus service from Dawra to Hamra. One organizer told New TV that the free transportation service was to “allow people to tell us about their experiences and memories of the war,” so that the violent war may be “remembered but never repeated.”

French forces have been evacuating Lebanese nationals in Ivory Coast, where violence and looting is widespread. Future TV reports that several Lebanese citizens were injured and two sustained serious injuries. The Lebanese ambassador to Ivory Coast, Ali Ajami said that about 85 Lebanese evacuated the capital Abidjan onboard French military planes. Prime Minster Saad al-Hariri also met with Jordanian King Abdullah II to discuss the possibility of Jordanian forces participating in the UN intervention mission in Abidjan to provide protection and aid to the Lebanese nationals there.

The BBC reports from Libya, where the revolutionaries and Gaddafi’s troops have reached a stalemate in the eastern oil city of Brega. While the intervention by international coalition forces has prevented Gaddafi’s troops from advancing, it has not succeeded in helping the opposition make any significant progress.

Yemen’s Taiz province witnessed renewed confrontations today. Eyewitnesses said that security forces and men disguised in civilian clothing attacked thousands of protestors, who responded by throwing stones. Al-Jazeera reports that over 400 people were injured and transported to Taiz's field hospital. This escalation comes as the Yemeni authorities accepted the invitation by the Gulf Cooperation Council to hold talks in Riyadh with the opposition. Opposition leaders said they will only accept the invitation if Saleh steps down.

Tonight, al-Alam’s report focuses on Saudi Arabia and its controversial role in Middle Eastern affairs in recent months. The report accuses Saudi Arabia of undermining the security and stability of the region and of working to suppress popular uprisings of various countries.

Dubai TV reports on the assassination of political activist and director of The Freedom Theater, Juliano Mer Khamis. Palestinians described his assassination as “an attempt to assassinate the national Palestinian culture and identity.” Palestinian sources said that an unkown masked gunman shot Mer Khamis and that an investigation is underway. Mer Khamis founded the Freedom Theater in Jenin, and devoted his life to the promotion of Palestinian art and culture. Read more about Mer Khamis on Link TV's blog here.