Several Republican lawmakers praised President Trump on Thursday for carrying out strikes on ISIS militants in Nigeria after he said they killed Christians in the African country’s northwest

The US has intensified intelligence-gathering flights over Nigeria since late November, signaling deepening security cooperation amid Trump’s threats of possible military intervention and rising militant violence.

An attack by ISIS forces on U.S. servicemembers earlier this month prompted U.S. airstrikes and an entry ban on Syrian nationals, despite Trump’s embrace of Syria President Ahmad al-Sharaa