'Show of force': Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets fly over US navy ship days after American strike on boat; tensions escalate

The Pentagon on Thursday said that two Venezuelan military planes flew near a US guided-missile destroyer Jason Dunham in the southern Caribbean Sea in a "show of force", calling it "highly provocative.

"This comes a few days after a deadly American strike on a Venezuelan boat that the US alleged of carrying drugs, killing 11.In a post on X, the defence department said, "This highly provocative move was designed to interfere with our counter-narco-terror operations. The cartel running Venezuela is strongly advised not to pursue any further effort to obstruct, deter or interfere with counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations carried out by the US military."

The US have deployed navy warships in the south Caribbean after tensions between Donald Trump and Venezuelan strongman Maduro rose. Earlier on Tuesday, US military blew up a Venezuelan boat, accusing it of carrying drugs in the Caribbean. It's sad that the boat belonged to a criminal organisation tied to Maduro. In response, Caracas accused US of committing extrajudicial killings in the attack, saying "they murdered 11 people without due process."

According to The New York Times, Trump last month signed a still-secret directive instructing the Pentagon to use military force against some Latin American drug cartels.On Wednesday, Marco Rubio, secretary of state, said that seizing drug shipments in recent years had not dissuaded cartels and traffickers. "What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them," he said.Maduro then accused Rubio of trying to drag Trump into a bloody war.