Which countries has the US bombed this year?
The US carried out military attacks against a total of seven countries in 2025.
Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea
This week, the US confirmed one strike on a docking facility on Venezuelan territory, as part of the Trump administration’s escalating war on boats it claims are smuggling drugs from the country to the US.
No details about where the strike took place have been released.
That followed the US Navy’s seizure of two oil tankers off the Venezuelan coast earlier in December, in an apparent attack to choke Maduro’s main economic lifeline. Washington claims the vessels are part of a “shadow fleet” of tankers smuggling sanctioned oil.
Since August, the US has amassed the largest military presence in the Caribbean Sea in decades, causing alarm among governments there. The Trump administration claims this is warranted because the trafficking of drugs to the US constitutes a national emergency, but multiple reports have shown that Venezuela is not a major source of drugs being transported across borders.
On September 2, the US began striking small boats in the Caribbean that it alleges were trafficking drugs. It is thought it has struck more than 30 vessels since then. The Trump administration says the vessels are operated by Venezuelan “terrorist” organisations, including the Tren de Aragua group and the Colombian National Liberation Army. However, it has provided no evidence for this.
At least 95 people have been killed in the boat strikes, Human Rights Watch revealed on December 16, accusing Washington of “extrajudicial killings”.
In early December, US lawmakers from both Republican and Democratic sides urged the Pentagon to release full footage of the first strike on September 2, which has proved even more controversial following revelations that the vessel was subject to a “double tap” attack – two survivors of the first attack clinging to debris in the water following a first strike were killed in a follow-up strike.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the footage will not be released.
Caracas accuses the US of using claims of drug trafficking as a cover for seeking a government change in Venezuela. Trump, meanwhile, has called Venezuela a “narco state” and said President Nicolas Maduro’s days “are numbered”.
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