Two Venezuelan planes fly over US warships, Pentagon: Very provocative action! The cartel that runs the country is advised not to...

2025-09-05 19:18:16Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Two Venezuelan planes fly over US warships, Pentagon: Very provocative action!

Two Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets flew over a US Navy destroyer in the Caribbean on Thursday, a US official told Reuters, prompting a stern warning from the US to Venezuela against interfering in the intensification of US military operations in the Caribbean.

The incident, which the Pentagon said occurred in international waters, further heightens tensions just two days after a US strike killed 11 people aboard a ship from Venezuela that President Donald Trump said was carrying illegal narcotics.

Legal experts have raised questions about the raid, despite the Trump administration's arguments that it has the authority to target suspected members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang that traffics drugs into the United States, after Washington declared it a terrorist organization earlier this year.

In a brief statement, the Pentagon likened the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to a drug trafficking cartel, a charge that Caracas denies. Trump has accused Maduro of running the Tren de Aragua cartel.

"Today, two Maduro regime military aircraft flew near a U.S. Navy ship in international waters," the Pentagon said in a statement, calling it a "highly provocative action."

"The cartel that runs Venezuela is strongly advised not to undertake any further efforts to obstruct or interfere with counternarcotics and terrorism operations conducted by the U.S. military."

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Venezuelan military jets were F-16s and that they flew over the USS Jason Dunham.

The Dunham is one of at least seven U.S. warships stationed in the Caribbean, carrying more than 4,500 sailors and airmen.


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