Global & US Headlines
Pentagon Launches ‘Operation Southern Spear’ With Carrier Group Off Venezuela
On 13–14 Nov 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly re-branded and escalated ongoing U.S. strikes by declaring “Operation Southern Spear,” pairing the 20th lethal boat strike with the imminent arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier group off Venezuela.
Focusing Facts
- Monday’s strike (10 Nov 2025) on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel was the 20th such attack, leaving four dead and bringing the reported toll to ~80.
- The operation now fields nearly a dozen U.S. Navy ships—including the 100,000-ton USS Gerald R. Ford—and about 12,000 sailors and Marines in Caribbean waters.
- Senior officers briefed President Trump on 12 Nov 2025 on land-attack options against Venezuela, though no green light has been announced.
Context
Washington has invoked the drug war before to justify force—most vividly in 1989’s Operation Just Cause, when 27,000 U.S. troops toppled Panama’s Manuel Noriega under a ‘narcotics’ banner. Southern Spear echoes that playbook but overlays two newer trends: (1) post-9/11 Authorization for Use of Military Force logic now stretched from terrorists to cartels, and (2) the growing use of ship- or drone-based precision strikes that sidestep formal declarations of war. On a century horizon, the move reaffirms a 200-year Monroe Doctrine instinct—U.S. willingness to police its ‘near abroad’—yet it also tests the already-fraying norms of sovereignty and congressional war powers. If carrier-led shows of force against a mid-sized Latin American state become routine, they could normalize extra-territorial kinetic action against non-state actors and further blur the line between crime control and warfare, a precedent future great powers may cite in their own spheres of influence.
Perspectives
Right-leaning pro-Trump outlets
e.g., PJ Media, The Epoch Times, Newsweek — They hail Operation Southern Spear as a bold Trump-ordered mission that will wipe out narco-terrorists and keep drugs out of the United States. Coverage cheers U.S. firepower, treats 80 reported deaths as necessary collateral, and sidesteps questions of international law or congressional authority that appear in other reports.
International outlets critical of U.S. intervention
e.g., Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, India Today — They depict the operation as an aggressive U.S. military build-up targeting Venezuela, stressing that dozens have been killed with little evidence and that regional governments see a threat to sovereignty. By foregrounding Venezuelan officials’ statements and the lack of proof offered by Washington, they accentuate a narrative of U.S. imperial overreach while giving scant attention to cartel violence driving the policy.
U.S. political-insider press
e.g., Axios, The Hill, Reuters/U.S. News — They present the announcement as either a fresh label or an expansion of existing anti-drug operations, highlighting internal Pentagon dynamics, legal questions and uncertainty about future land strikes. Their process-focused reporting can underplay regional civilian impact and frame the story mainly through Washington power moves, reflecting the incentives of Beltway journalism.