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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear.

FBI director Christopher Ray made it official today, saying he intends to resign before

President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

The announcement coming a week and a half after Trump announced he would nominate

Loyalist Cash Patel for the FBI post.

Vermont Democrat Peter Walsh, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee,

said he finds the choice of Patel worrisome.

The big concern I have is his public statement where he wants to use this authority

to go after people that disagree with him, that he regards his political opponents

or journalists who wrote what he regards as bad stories. There's no

place to use the authority of high law enforcement powers to go after people because you disagree.

So that's a concern. Ray's decision comes despite having three years left in his term and announcing

his intention to step down, Ray said he wanted to, quote,

avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray. Arab states are denouncing Israel's seizure of

Syrian territory borders after armed fighters toppled the regime, leaving military post unmanned.

Israel's also been striking hundreds of weapons depots, naval ships and military aircraft across Syria,

more than Pempera's Ibrotrawe. Egypt was among the first to condemn Israel's seizure of a buffer zone with Syria,

including the Syrian side of the snow-capped Mount Hermann in the Golan. Egypt says Israeli troops there

constitute an occupation of Syrian territory and that Israel is exploiting the security vacuum to

impose a new reality on the ground. Turkey, Qatar, Jordan, and Israel's closest regional ally,

the UAE have also denounced it, with U.S. saying the occupation violates international law and

...