Iran

• British envoy to visit Iran for first time in two years
• Iran ready to discuss island dispute with UAE
• Iran’s Zarif stretches Gulf trip to include UAE
• Iran diplomacy must be backed by military power: Chuck Hagel
• Hassan Rouhani addresses Iran’s divided students
• Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says nuclear deal has helped the economy
• Iran’s commander of revolutionary guardssuggests foreign min stay out of military affairs
• Iran angry over U.S. sanctions
• Senate bill threaten nuclear deal
• China may raise Iranian oil imports
• Iran says it installed 1000 next generation centrifuges: AEOI head
• Hard-liners join team of nuclear negotiators

Syria

• Syria death toll hits nearly 126,000
• Mother superior:  Nuns abducted by Syrian rebels
• U.S. to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons at sea
• Beheadings and spies help Al-Qaeda to gain ground in Syria
• Jihadists execute Iraqi cameraman in Syria
• Missing Syrian nuns appear in video
• Syrian Kurdsdiscuss differences over Geneva II 
• U.S. may be open to Islamists join Syrian rebel coalition
• US ambassador says Syria’s Islamic Front rejects talk
• Aleppo strikes‘overwhelm’ hospitals
• Al-Qaeda leader in Syria speaks to Al-Jazeera
• British doctor found dead in Syrian jail to be buried
• 15 Palestinians dead from hunger in Yarmuk refugee camp in Syria ‪

Lebanon

• Car bomb in Beirut kills prominent pro-Western politician
• Lebanon arrests “head of Abdullah Azzam Brigade.” ‪
• Nasrallah links Saudi Arabia to Iran embassy attack
• Two Hezbollah members deadafter Baalbek bomb.
• Lebanon villagers torch Syrian refugee tents
• Lebanon accuses Israel of piracy and stealing
• Lebanon fires on Syrian helicopter in its space
• Beloved singer Fairouz dragged into Lebanon’s divisions
• Saudi Arabia to give Lebanon $3bn to strengthen army
• Lebanon rockets strikes Israel

Israel/Palestine

• Israel, Jordan, Palestinians sign historic Red sea-Dead Sea canal deal
• Kerry to press for “framework” accord to keep peace efforts moving
• Israel drops controversial Bedouins relocation plans
• Peres secretly spoke 29 Arab foreign ministers
• Israeli minister:Turkey, Israel can overcome problems in near feature
• Dozens of Israeli defense firms suspected of export law violations
• 20 Salafists arrested as Gaza groups pushes into West Bank
• 36 aid groups  demands end to house demolitions by Israel
• CERNto admit Israel as first new member state since 1999
• Court orders new election in divided Israeli city
• Gazareceives first fuel shipment in weeks as storm causes havoc
• Erekat condemns Israel’s bill to annex Jordan Valley
• Israel to release 26 Palestinian prisoners
• Israeli forces besiege Jenin-area town
• Israel outlaws NGO representing Hamas in Europe
• EU offers Israel, Palestine aid for a peace deal

Gulf states/Yemen

• 72 Saudi clerics sign petition to endorse jihadists in Syria
• UAE presidentaccepts invitation to visit Tehran
• Omanopposes the Union of the Gulf states
• Bahrain activist Nabeel Rajab denied early release
• Al-Qaeda says it was behind attack on Yemen’s defense ministry
• Kuwait court upholds law penalizing criticism of the Emir
• Press TV:  “Qatar wants powerful #Iran in Middle East.”
• Qatarfires director of Doha Centre for Media Freedom | Doha News
• Ethiopia: 100,000 repatriated from Saudi Arabia over migrant crackdown
• 6 Gulf Arab nations to establish joint military command
• Sectarian clashes kill at least 40 in Yemen.
• Islamic charity officials gave millions to Al-Qaeda, U.S. says
• Saudi Arabia passes anti-terror law
• Bahraini police arrested head of Shiite opposition
• Saudi religious police storm drinking party; 56 arrested
• Unpaid workers going hungry in Qatar

Libya/ Tunisia

• Libya risks power blackout
• Libya lost $7 billion to oil strikes
• Slain American teacherwas devoted to faith
• Gunmen kill senior Libyan police officer
• U.S., Britain and Libya promise to pursue Lockerbie case
• Protesters force internet shutdown in Libya
• Mahmoud Jibril launches “initiative to save Libya.”
• Three years on, ‪Tunisia uprising marked by muted demos
• Tunisia’s Islamists and opposition reach deal on premier
• Tunisia’s roadmap for political transition in limbo

Jordan

• Jordan elected to U.N. Security Council
• Jordan radical cleric Abu Qatada to go on trial
• Jordanian Queen to attend Mandela funeral
• Jordan wants Israel al-Aqsa surveillance cameras
• Jordan critic charged with incitement and insulting the King

Sudan

• Bashir announces the resignation of the first Vice president
• Mass graves reported in South Sudan
• President of South Sudan says coup has been repulsed
• UN says deadly clashes spread in South Sudan

Iraq

• Iraq suffers its deadliest year since 2008
• Gunmen shoot dead 18 oil workers
• CPJ condemns attack on Iraqi TV station
• Iran dissidents ‘killed in Iraq’ “killed in missile attack n Iraq”
• Anbar protestorsremains defiant despite government threats
• Iraq troops arrest leading Sunni MP in violent raid
• Iraq says dismantling of Sunni protest camp complete
• Iraqi army to quit tense cities after protest cleared
• 44 Iraq MPs announce resignation after protest camp cleared

Algeria

• Algeria’s ailing Bouteflika is ‘well-informed’: French PM

Good reports

• Mohamad Chatah killing targets potential prime minister
• For Syrian refugees, even jail is paradise. Jeanne Carstensen
• Razan Zaitouneh David Kenner
• Francetries to supplant U.S. as Saudi Arabia’s arms suppliers.Mohammed Ballout
• Secret CIA testimony identifies real Lockerbie mastermind
• PFLP seeks return to prominence in Palestinian affairs
• Conversations between Tony Blair and George W Bush in build-up to the Iraq war could be published
• Life inside the Zaatari refuge camp. Rym Ghazal
• “Angry Arab” or CIA operative?  Hussain Abdul Hussain
• Dispatch from Tunisia: The Salafist struggle. The Economist

Video

• How Iranians perceive the nuclear deal. PBS Newshour
• Why Lebanon refuses to officially welcome Syrian refugees

Poll:

• Settlers would consider leaving West Bank for ‘genuine peace’
• Iranian attitude. Zogby research service. Comment from Barbara Slavin

 Plus:

• Syria, Iraq, and Egypt are themost deadly nations for journalists –
• Mohamad Chatah’s open letter to Tehran
• Timeline: Fallout from Syrian conflict in Lebanon
• In Pictures: March 14 vows to confront Hezbollah:

Good Read

• Israel-Palestine talks: Snail’s pace. The Economist
• More guns will not save Iraq. The New York Times
• The danger of new Iran sanctions.  Colin Kahl
• For Iran,  ‪2013 was a very good year. Jeffrey Goldberg
• The coming collapse of the Gulf monarchies. Christopher Davidson
• The Sufi challenge to Iran’s clergy. Muhammad Jawad Adib
• How South Sudan leaders squandered nation building efforts. Carl Odera and Edmund Blair
• Iraq’s tangled foreign Interests and relations. Paul Salem

Happy New Year 2014. Wish the Middle East more wisdom and tolerance.