Syria's government has passed a draft law to lift 48 years of emergency rule.
The move is seen as a concession to unprecedented demands for greater freedom in the tightly-controlled Arab country.
State news agency SANA said the cabinet ratified draft legislation 'to end the state of emergency in Syria'.
President Bashar al-Assad must still sign the legislation for it to take effect, but his signature was a formality, a senior lawyer said.
Inspired by uprisings sweeping the Arab world, thousands of Syrians have held demonstrations across the country demanding reforms, presenting the president with the most serious and sustained challenge to his 11-year rule.
Rights groups say more than 200 people have been killed in the unrest.
SANA said the cabinet, which has little power and rubberstamps Mr Assad's orders, also passed a law to abolish a special security court, which human rights lawyers says violates the rule of law and the right to fair trial.
It also passed legislation to 'regulate the right of peaceful protest'.
Permission from the Interior Ministry will be needed to demonstrate in Syria, the news agency said.
One activist dismissed the cabinet decision, saying Mr Assad himself could have lifted emergency law immediately.
'The government doesn't need to issue anything ... It's in the hands of the president to lift it,' Ammar Qurabi said.
A senior international lawyer said the new law regulating demonstrations, which were banned under the state of emergency, would still mean 'you have to ask permission from the Assad family to demonstrate'.
The announcement came hours after activists said Syrian forces opened fire to disperse protestors in Homs, where 17 people were killed on Sunday night.
Rights activists said at least three more protestors were shot dead in the latest shooting early this morning.
SANA reported that four people, two policemen and two gunmen, were killed in clashes in the city.
The government says Syria is the target of a conspiracy and authorities blame the violence on armed gangs and infiltrators supplied with weapons from Lebanon and Iraq, a charge opposition groups say is unfounded.
