Two Venezuelan military aircraft flew near a United States Navy ship in international waters, the US Department of Defense has said, in a move described as “highly provocative” amid escalating tension between Washington and Caracas.

The Defense Department warned Venezuela in a statement late on Thursday to cease further provocative moves, describing the Venezuelan aircraft buzzing over the US vessel – reported to be the guided-missile destroyer Jason Dunham – as an attempt “to interfere with our counter-narco-terror operations”.

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“Today, two Maduro regime military aircraft flew near a US Navy vessel in international waters,” the Pentagon said in a post on the X platform.

“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 Pentagon said.

The New York Times cited a US defence official as saying that two Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets flew over the guided-missile destroyer Jason Dunham in the southern Caribbean Sea, but the US ship did not engage the aircraft.

Venezuelan state media did not mention the reported encounter between US and Venezuelan forces as it covered President Nicolas Maduro announcing the first round activation of the country’s National Militia, whose ranks have been bolstered in recent weeks by new volunteers as Washington’s threats intensify.

Venezuela’s Noticias Venevision news outlet quoted Maduro as saying it was the “first time in history that the communal units of the militia will be activated, spanning the national map from north to south, from east to west, down to the last community”.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has accused Maduro of operating and having close connections to drug trafficking cartels in Venezuela and the region, claims for which the US has thus far failed to offer any evidence.

In August, Washington doubled a reward to $50m for information leading to Maduro’s arrest over allegations of his involvement in cocaine trafficking. Shortly after, the US deployed several ships and a nuclear-powered submarine to the Caribbean and waters off the coast of Venezuela in an operation said to target drug cartels.

Maduro has raised alarm for weeks over the US naval deployment in the Southern Caribbean, claiming the US was “seeking a regime change through military threat” and promising that if attacked by Washington, he would mobilise the country and declare “a republic in arms”.

On Tuesday, US forces destroyed an alleged drug trafficking speedboat in an apparent air strike in the Caribbean.

Trump said the boat belonged to a criminal organisation tied to Maduro, and the attack had killed 11 people.

Caracas accused Washington of committing extrajudicial killings, saying “they murdered 11 people without due process”. Legal experts have also raised questions about the legality of the attack, as the Trump administration did not provide any evidence that the US was under imminent threat from those on board the vessel or that people on board were even armed.

Legal experts said that in the eyes of many people, those on the boat were civilians, and the attack would be seen as an extrajudicial killing by US forces.