Overview

• President Trump said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the strike in international waters off Venezuela, released a video of the blast, and reported no U.S. casualties.
• It is the fifth such operation since early September, with administration figures indicating 27 people have been killed across the five strikes.
• A White House memo to Congress stated the U.S. has determined it is in a non-international armed conflict with designated drug organizations and is applying the law of armed conflict.
• Lawmakers in both parties are pressing for the underlying intelligence and legal basis, an effort that followed a failed Senate War Powers bid to restrict the strikes.
• Venezuela has denounced the actions as aggression as U.S. force posture in the region includes multiple warships, F-35s forward-based in Puerto Rico, and a submarine under U.S. Southern Command.