Armed Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets buzzed a US Warship in a “show of force” on Thursday after the US military blew up a Tren de Aragua drug trafficking vessel.
CBS News reported:
Two armed Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets flew over the USS Jason Dunham on Thursday, according to multiple Defense Department officials who described the action as a “show of force.”
The Dunham, an Aegis guided-missile destroyer, is among a flotilla of U.S. warships dispatched to the region in recent weeks that the Pentagon says have been deployed to target criminal organizations and narco-terrorism.
CBS News was unable to determine what actions the USS Jason Dunham took, if any, in response to the flyover.
Scoop: Two-armed Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets flew over a US warship today–a show of force, @JimLaPorta and @charliecbs report. The USS Jason Dunham is among a flotilla of U.S. ships dispatched to target criminal organizations and narco-terrorism. @CBSNews https://t.co/w6Bp14z1if
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) September 4, 2025
President Trump on Tuesday said of the strike against a Tren de Aragua drug trafficking boat from Venezuela, “while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States.”
Trump recently designated foreign drug cartels, including the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, MS-13, and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations with an executive order on his first day in office.
On Tuesday Trump announced 11 terrorists were killed in the military strike.
“Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” he announced.
“TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere.”
President Trump posted an unclassified video of the drug trafficking vessel being blow up.
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