House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) led a bipartisan Congressional delegation on Wednesday to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt to visit the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) North Camp.
The delegation was sent to observe hundreds of U.S. troops working with other nations as part of a long-standing peacekeeping operation. The delegation focused the spread of ISIS around Sinai, where the terror group has designated as one of its intended provinces.
“ISIS may be losing some ground in Syria and Iraq, but globally it is on the march and expanding, especially in North Africa,” McCaul said. “We need to step up our counterterrorism training and assistance with partners like Egypt and our operations in places like Libya in order to roll back these safe havens. We cannot allow ISIS to develop more launching pads for plots against the West. I pressed this issue with the Egyptians, and I plan to continue to push the Administration to develop a clear strategy for eliminating, not just containing, ISIS’ terror sanctuaries.”
The Congressional delegation included U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), and U.S. Reps. Pete Sessions (R-TX), Bill Keating (D-MA), Kathleen Rice (D-NY), Rep Michael Pompeo (R-KS) and David Valadao (R-CA).