Overview
- The Department of War said a strike in international waters of the Eastern Pacific near Colombia killed two people and caused no U.S. casualties, and it released a brief video of the attack.
- Officials count roughly 16–17 strikes since September with about 66–67 deaths across operations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
- The Pentagon has expanded its regional posture, with the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group transiting toward the Caribbean to join existing air and naval assets.
- Briefings to Congress described the effort as an armed conflict with drug cartels and indicated the administration currently lacks a legal justification to conduct strikes inside Venezuela.
- UN human-rights officials, regional governments, and NGOs criticized the actions as potential violations of international law, with calls to halt what they describe as extrajudicial killings.