Update at 8:56 a.m. ET: President Bashar Assad accepted the Cabinet's resignation after a meeting today. Assad is likely to address the nation in the next 24 hours to announce he is lifting the emergency law and moving to annul other restrictions on civil liberties and political freedoms, the Associated Press reports.

Update at 8:45 a.m. ET: Syria's Cabinet resigned amid the country's worst unrest in decades, state-run TV reported, according to the Associated Press.

Earlier posting: The Syrian government is likely to resign today as part of President Basahar Assad's attempt to introduce changes and quell a growing series of tense -- and deadly -- protests, Al-Jazeera TV reports.

Al-Jazeera quotes senior government officials as saying the Cabinet will be replaced in 24 hours. It is possible that Assad, who has remained largely out of public view since protests erupted last week, will speak to parliament, the network says.

The latest report coincides with a massive pro-Assad demonstrations today in the capital, Damascus, where thousands of flag-waving Syrians jammed the central square.

Government officials have announced that the country's 48-year state of emergency will be lifted.

The law, invoked when the ruling Baath Party took power in 1963, has been used to prevent public gatherings, round up opposition figures, set up closed courts and unleash the secret police.

In the past week, a crackdown on demonstrations by security forces has led to numerous deaths, including at least 61 killed in the southern city of Daraa, 12 in Latakia and at least 10 in Sanamin, Al-Jazeera reports.