Here's a summary of the day's key events:

Syria

• Mortars have exploded at a stadium in Damascus, killing a footballer and injuring several others, Syrian state media reported. Sana said that the footballer, from the Homs-based al-Wathba team, was training at the time. One report suggested that rebel fighters were targeting the nearby Ba'ath national command building. It is the second mortar attack in the capital in two days after mortars exploded near Tishreen palace, one of Bashar al-Assad's three presidential palaces, yesterday. The Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility for the attack on the palace.

• Russia and the Arab League have offered to broker talks between the the Syrian government and the opposition. The offer came at the Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has warned both sides in the Syria conflict that they are on "a path to mutual destruction" and said "the need to start a dialogue becomes more and more clear".

• An assessment carried out in January by the Syrian opposition and international aid agencies suggests the UN has underestimated the number of civilians in urgent need of assistance in northern Syria. The Joint Rapid Assessment of Northern Syria estimated that the number of people in urgent need in Idlib, rural Aleppo, Latakia, Raqqa, Hasaka and Deir el Zour totalled at least 3.2 million. By contrast, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees released figures yesterday showing 2.08 million people in urgent need in the six provinces of northern Syria.

• A missile struck the command centre of the main Syrian rebel force near Damascus wounding its leader, activists said. A rebel spokesman said Sheikh Zahran Alloush, founder of the Liwa al-Islam brigade, was wounded but declined to give further details. Activists said the early morning strike took place near the northern Damascus suburb of Douma. The rocket, possibly a Scud-type ballistic missile, devastated the area and killed or wounded other fighters, they said. A rebel commander fighting with Liwa al-Islam in Damascus said:

It would be a great loss if Sheikh Alloush is killed. Liwa al-Islam is the most powerful on the ground and Sheikh Alloush is the brains behind its strength.

• The Free Syrian Army destroyed a MiG warplane that was responsible for bombing the Damascus suburb of Hamouria, activists claimed. The Local Coordination Committees group claimed that 35 people were killed and dozens injured by government shelling of Hamouria today. Live video footage purporting to show the aftermath of the airstrikes showed thick black smoke, buildings reduced to rubble and burnt out vehicles. Video was also posted online purporting to be of the MiG jet in flames.

Lebanon

• A Lebanese judge recommended Wednesday the death penalty for former Information Minister Michel Samaha, a Syrian general and another holding the rank of colonel over a terror plot to destabilize Lebanon. The indictment charges the three men of holding a meeting under Mamlouk at the National Security office in the Syrian capital Damascus and orchestrating a plot to assassinate Syrian opposition figures and arms traffickers entering Syria from Lebanon. Samaha is seen as Syria's "man in Lebanon".

Tunisia

• Ennahda party president Rached Ghannouchi, leaving the presidential palace this morning after speaking with Tunisia's President Moncef Marzouki, said the country will have a new government "by the end of the week". However he declined to name which Ennahda figure will replace outgoing Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, who resigned late yesterday.

Bahrain

• Talks were due to take place today between the mostly Shia opposition and the Sunni-dominated government to find a way out of the impasse over Shia demands for more democracy. The talks come as Bahrain accused Iran's Revolutionary Guard of setting up a militant cell to assassinate public figures in the Gulf Arab kingdom and attack its airport and government buildings. Bahrain has accused Shia Iran of fuelling the unrest, an accusation Tehran and Bahraini opposition figures have consistently denied.