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Two Venezuelan warplanes fly over US Navy ship — Pentagon

The US Department of Defense stressed that this highly provocative move was designed to interfere with the US counter narco-terror operations

WASHINGTON, September 5. /TASS/. Two Venezuelan warplanes flew close to a US Navy ship in international waters, the US Department of Defense said.

"Today, two [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro regime military aircraft flew near a US Navy vessel in international waters. This highly provocative move was designed to interfere with our counter narco-terror operations," the department said in a statement.

"The cartel running Venezuela is strongly advised not to pursue any further effort to obstruct, deter or interfere with counter-narcotics and counter-terror operations carried out by the US military," the statement reads.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that during an operation in international waters, the US military had killed 11 members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua drug cartel. Trump accused the Venezuelan government of not taking sufficient measures to combat drug trafficking. Also, Washington continues to groundlessly accuse Maduro of belonging to the Cartel de los Soles drug cartel, an allegation that Caracas denies.

According to Reuters, on August 19, three US Navy destroyers, namely the USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham, and USS Sampson, were dispatched to the southern Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela to conduct "operations against drug cartels." There were also reports of the deployment of the nuclear submarine USS Newport News, the missile cruiser USS Lake Erie, amphibious ships, and 4,500 military personnel.

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