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Trump orders first major overseas military operation of his term

Feb 2, 2025, 3:32pm EST
Africa
A US jet .
US Africa Command Public Affairs/Handout via Reuters
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The News

A US airstrike hit Islamic State-affiliated targets in Somalia on Saturday, marking the first major overseas military operation since Donald Trump returned to the White House.

The strikes, which the Pentagon said killed “multiple operatives,” were “more symbolic than substantive,” The New York Times wrote, serving to broadcast Trump’s muscular approach.

Trump pulled US troops out of Somalia at the end of his first term — a decision Joe Biden reversed.

Those troops are still there, but Trump “may eventually take a different approach, not just on Somalia but the African continent as a whole,” the BBC wrote: Trump has pledged to dramatically curtail US involvement in future foreign conflicts.

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