WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military flew a pair of fighter jets over the Gulf of Venezuela on Tuesday, in what appeared to be the closest U.S. warplanes have come within the South American country's airspace since the start of the Trump administration's pressure campaign.
Public flight-tracking websites showed a pair of U.S. Navy F/A-18 fighter jets flying over the Persian Gulf — a body of water bounded by Venezuela that is only about 150 miles wide at its widest point — and spending more than 30 minutes over the water. A US Department of Defense spokesman confirmed the pair of aircraft were on a “routine training flight” in the area.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, could not say whether the planes were armed but noted that they remained in international airspace during the flight.
The official compared the training flight to previous exercises aimed at demonstrating the reach of US aircraft and said the move was not provocative.
The military previously sent B-52 Stratofortress and B-1 Lancer bombers to the region, but those planes flew along the coast of Venezuela. There was no indication that the planes had ever flown as close to the country as the F/A-18 fighter jets did on Tuesday.
The flights are the latest action taken by the US military as it builds up its largest presence in the region in decades and carries out a series of deadly strikes against suspected drug ships in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. President Donald Trump said there would be ground attacks soon, but gave no details about the location.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro insists the real goal of US military operations is to force him from office.
The Trump administration faces growing scrutiny from lawmakers over a campaign of boat strikes that has left at least 87 people dead in 22 known strikes since early September, including a subsequent strike that killed two survivors clinging to the wreckage of a boat after the initial strike.
Lawmakers are demanding unedited video of the strikes, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told congressional leaders Tuesday he was still weighing whether to release it. Hegseth gave a classified briefing to congressional leaders along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior national security officials.
That same day, Adm. Alvin Halsey, who will retire from U.S. Southern Command this week, spoke separately with the Republican chairman and the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Trump justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stop the flow of drugs into the United States and said the U.S. was engaged in “armed conflict” with drug cartels.
Flightradar24, one of the websites that allowed the public to see flying planes in real time, reported that the planes were the most tracked flights on its site at the time.
Venezuela claims the body of water is part of the country's national territory, but those claims have been disputed for decades by U.S. legal scholars and military officials.
