US strikes on Nigeria and Syria are ‘consistent’ with policy to combat IS, Republican says | US military
The country’s recent military strikes in Nigeria and Syria are consistent with American foreign policy to combat Islamic extremism that has existed throughout Donald Trump’s two presidential terms, a top Republican on the House armed services committee said.
Ohio congressman Mike Turner said Sunday that the strikes were “a continuation of our conflict with the country.” [the Islamic State]”.
“You know, all over the world, in Iraq, in Syria. Now you’re seeing it in Nigeria,” Turner said.
Turner denied that the attacks suggested a different approach to military force in a second term. He told ABC This Week that US policy on the Islamic State (IS) has been “very consistent” in defeating it in Iraq, Syria or “here in Nigeria”.
Turner says US ‘sees this’ [IS] “It has not been defeated around the world, but it will continue to be a target and we will have to continue to respond to it together with our allies, otherwise they will continue to be a threat.”
Trump’s comments came three days after the Pentagon launched a cruise missile strike on terrorist camps in northwestern Nigeria in what Trump later called a “Christmas gift” for ISIS militants in Nigeria.
The President later strengthened his comments on this issue. WABC A radio station in New York says ISIS are “butchers with a very bad Christmas present.” Referring to the persecution of Christians in the region, Trump said, “I told Nigeria, and I told the people around Nigeria, that if you do this, you will be shot.”
U.S. defense secretary Pete Hegseth said on X that Trump had made clear that “the killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria (and elsewhere) must end.” The defense ministry, which the Trump administration renamed the war ministry, “is always ready, so [IS] I found out tonight, on Christmas. More to come.
The consistency of the U.S. approach also applies to its stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine, Turner said. Turner said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attacks in Ukraine on Christmas Day and Saturday night were a reminder that “we cannot allow this to happen.”
“When it comes to the issue of whose side we’re on, you can’t be America first and be pro-Russia,” Turner said. “Russia has declared that it is an enemy of the United States. They are brutally killing Ukrainians and trying to take Ukrainian lands. So the president rightly said that we must end this war.”
