This is a monthly selection of news, reports, and articles covering the Middle East (except Egypt). I hope you find it useful.

 Syria

• Chemical experts  begin destroying Syria’s weapons arsenal
• UN urges immediate humanitarian access to Syria
• Syria wins cautious praise as chemical disarmament starts
• Kurdish groups take control in northeast Syria
• Al-Qaeda chief urges jihadis in Syria to end rift, and rally around goal of Islamic state
• Key opposition group refuses Geneva peace talks
• Red Cross workers kidnapped in northern Syria
• Rebels kill Assad’s top intelligence officer: State TV
• Syria meets deadline to destroy chemical production facilities
• World Health Organization confirms polio outbreak in Syria
• Syria sacks deputy prime minister who met U.S. officials
• Damascus rejects Western and Arab demands: No to Assad departure

 Turkey

• Turkey lifts ban on headscarf as part of a democracy package
• Non-Muslim minorities disappointed by “reciprocity of rights”
• Turks increasingly less interested in joining the EU
• Police, and intelligence actively monitor social media after Gezi protests
• Turkey builds a wall at its border with Syria
• Turkey denies aiding al-Qaeda linked groups  in Syria
• Ankara denies involvement in exposure of Israel spy ring to Iran: Davutoglu says
• Turkey’s first online Islamic sex shop opens

Iran

• Iranian parliament backs Rouhani’s diplomacy drive
• Iranian cyber warfare commander shot dead
• Talks on Iran’s nuclear program begin in Geneva
• Iran to allow snap inspections of 3‘nuclear facilities’
• Russia  proposes lifting Iran sanctions in exchange for intl control of nuclear program
• Nuclear deal with Iran not close: Senior Western diplomat
• Iran to hang drug dealer twice
• Britain agrees to appoint charge d’affaires to Iran
• Iran cancels Israel baiting anti-Zionism conference
• Iran slashed Hamas funding, senior official admits
• Iran eases visa requirements for tourists
• Obama admin presses for delay in Iran sanctions

 Israel/ Palestine

• Israeli PM Netanyahu calls Iran’s president “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”
• Israel has discovered explosive laden Gaza tunnel
• Israel suspends building materials to Gaza
• Israel urges maintaining Iran sanctions despite Geneva proposals
• Israel-Turkey ties strained by report of spy exposure
• Israeli troops arrest senior Hamas members in West Bank
• Israel frees Palestinian prisoners; pushes settlement plan
• Israel destroys Russian missiles in Syria, maybe bound for Hezbollah
• Chief PA peace process negotiator Saeb Erekat tenders resignation
• UN calls for ‘urgent action’ to address Gaza’s power crisis
• Gaza border incident ‪kill 4 Hamas militants
• Shunned and isolated, Hamas reaches unprecedented low in Gaza

 Libya/Tunisia

• Relief and distrust as Tunisia’s Islamists agree to quit government
• Tunisians lose faith in Ennhada and the revolution
• Tunisian Jewish community targeted with impunity
• UN: Torture continues to be widespread in Libyan detention centers
• Russia evacuates personnel from Libya.
• Abu Anas al-Libi to be tried in the United States
• Libya PM says his abduction was an attempted “coup”
• Tunisia forces kill 10 Islamist militants in raids: Government
• Tunisia launches “huge” operation to hunt Jihadists
• Libyan militia shut down parts of the country’s oil production –

 Gulf States

• Qatar in labor rights storm amid FIFA talks
• Emir of Qatar tours Gulf states in support of union
• UAE to try 30 Emirati, and Egyptian Islamists on Nov 5
• GCC visitors head to UAE for Eid
• Saudi advisory body rejects bid to raise women driving ban
• Saudi Arabia in indirect warning to Brotherhood: No Rabaa hands in Mecca
• Oman council members sentenced to prison in protest case.
• Saudi Arabia warns women against defying driving ban
•  Saudi withdrawal stuns UN Security Council
• Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief says the kingdom will make a “major shift” in relations with the United States
• Houthi-Salafi conflict rages on in Northern Yemen
• Kuwait upholds sentence for Twitter ‘insults’
• Bahrain’s crackdown extends to exhibit on crackdown

 Lebanon

• Lebanon slams Syria for cross border raid
• Future movement slams Jumblatt over flip-flop
• Turkish pilots kidnapped in Lebanon seen in video
• Lebanon security arrested a pro-Hezbollah militia leader  a pro-Hezbollah militia leader
• Lebanon’s Mufti slams politicians’ allegiance to foreign powers
• Hezbollah’s run schools is teaching the Persian language
• Lebanese hostages in Syria return, and kidnapped Turks back hom
•  Hariri blames Syria for Tripoli clashes
• ‘The Frank Sinatra of the Middle East:’ Lebanese singer Wadih El Safi dies

 Sudan

• Sudan defends crackdown
• Three Senegalese peace keepers killed in Darfur region
• Anger Lingers in Sudan after crackdown
• Sudan ruling party reformers to set up new party
• Over 99% of Abyei’s Dinka vote to join South Sudan

Iraq

• Violence in Iraq leaves almost 1,000 dead in September
• Attacks on Shi’ite Muslims kills 48 people in Iraq
• Iraq executes 42 ‘terrorists’  including terrorists
• Iraq receiving Russian arms under historic deal
• Iraq’s Maliki at White House to seek US help battling increasing violence

Jordan

• Hundreds of Syrian refugees denied entry into Jordan
• ‪Jordan issues ‪$1.25 billion bond with U.S. guarantee

 Good Reports 

• The history of Jews in modern Iraq: An Interview with Orit Bashkin
• A who’s who guide to the Syrian political and military opposition
• Ill and long isolated, Iranian opposition leaders scent freedom
• A city rises from Syrian refugee camp

 Interview:

• A vision of peace made in Israel: Interview with Uri Avnery

 Book review:

• A review of Vali Nasr’s book: “The Dispensable Nation,” by Walter Russell Mead

 Good Read 

• ‘Everyone is scared of ISIS.’ James Traub
• Dictators in the age of Instagram. Emily Greenhouse
• Time is running out to find a solution for the conflict in Sudan. Amb. Princeton N. Lyman
• Glass just half-full in Erdogan’s reform plan. Murat Yetkin
• Ankar’s bad Syria options. Aaron Stein
• The spectacular collapse of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan. David Schenker
• The flying Nun and Moadamiyah, Syria.  Michael Weiss
• Does Hezbollah’s partial exit from Syria mean anything? ‪Phillip Smyth
• Why Iran postponed Hamas’s Meshaal to Tehran? Adnan Abu-Amer
• U.S. inattention to Libya breed chaos. David Ignatius
• Saudi Arabia’s unhappy. So what? Kori Schake
• Kurdistan: Just being independent. Steven Cook
• Turkey: Spies like us Michael Koplow, and Steven Cook
• The army of Islam is winning in Syria.  Hassan Hassan
• Saudi backed Salafists are returning to Iran’s border? Meir Javedanfar