UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Michael Beary on Thursday inspected the Blue Line area, south of al-Naqoura, where Israel has started to build a controversial separation border wall that Lebanon says would encroach on its territory.

Israel has started constructing the wall along its border with Lebanon on Wednesday. Lebanon's Higher Defense Council met afterward and instructed the Lebanese Armed Forces to confront any Israeli territorial or maritime border violations.

Jurors convicted an Oklahoma man of murder and hate crime charges Wednesday for fatally shooting his Lebanese neighbor after bombarding him with racial and anti-Muslim insults in a long-running feud with his family, who are Christian.

Stanley Vernon Majors, 63, was found guilty in the August 2016 shooting death of Khalid Jabara, 37, outside his Tulsa home. Majors also was convicted of threatening an act of violence. Jurors deliberated for nearly 2 ½ hours before returning the verdict.

Israel on Wednesday started constructing a controversial wall along its border with Lebanon, a barrier that Lebanon says would encroach on its territory.

Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL, confirmed the beginning of works in the Naqoura area and said the force is "fully engaged with both parties in order to find common solutions."

The jury hearing the case of an Oklahoma man charged with first-degree murder and a hate crime in the killing of his Lebanese neighbor has been dismissed after attorneys trying the 2016 case rested.

A judge sent jurors home for the day in the Stanley Majors trial, clearing the way for closing arguments on Wednesday, when the jury is also expected to get the case.

An American psychiatrist has testified that an Oklahoma man charged with a hate crime in the fatal shooting of his Lebanese neighbor was mentally ill at the time with untreated schizophrenia.

Stanley Majors is on trial in Tulsa for the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Khalid Jabara. Prosecutors allege Majors bombarded Jabara and his family for years with racial epithets before the 2016 shooting.

Health Minister Ghassan Hasbani urged Lebanon's Cabinet on Monday to find an alternative plan for trash incineration plants pointing out to the dangers its entails on the environment and people.

American troops have started to draw down from Iraq following Baghdad's declaration of victory over the Islamic State group last year, according to Western contractors at a U.S.-led coalition base in Iraq.

Dozens of American soldiers have been transported from Iraq to Afghanistan on daily flights over the past week, along with weapons and equipment, the contractors said.

An Oklahoma man charged with a hate crime in the fatal shooting of his Lebanese neighbor will not testify during his murder trial.

After prosecutors rested their case Thursday, 63-year-old Stanley Majors told the judge he's decided not to take the witness stand.

The United States levied sanctions Friday against six individuals and seven business with links to alleged Hizbullah financier Adham Tabaja, the White House said.

Over the strong objections of his own Justice Department, President Donald Trump will clear the way for the publication of a classified memo on the Russia investigation that Republicans say shows improper use of surveillance by the FBI, White House officials said.

The memo, prepared by Republicans on the House intelligence committee, is said to allege FBI misconduct in the initial stages of its investigation of potential ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign. Trump's Justice Department and Democrats furiously lobbied Trump to stop the release, saying it could harm national security and mislead the public.