Trump said the operation was conducted by the US Southern Command and coordinated with Venezuelan authorities. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said the strike took place earlier in the week and confirmed Guerrero was killed.

Venezuela’s information ministry said the operation involved clashes with criminal groups and that Guerrero was neutralized, adding that the action involved intelligence-sharing and specialized technological support.

The Trump administration has previously sanctioned Guerrero and other Tren de Aragua leaders over alleged involvement in drug trafficking, human smuggling and money laundering. Washington has designated Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization.

Trump has accused the group of coordinating activities in the United States with Venezuela’s government, a claim his administration has cited in support of deportation measures targeting some migrants.

Tren de Aragua emerged from Venezuela’s Tocorón prison and expanded across parts of Latin America. Authorities have linked the group to crimes including extortion, kidnapping, human trafficking, money laundering and organized criminal activity.

Guerrero escaped from Tocorón prison in 2023 shortly before a police operation against the facility, according to authorities.

An explosion was heard in the city before a vehicle was seen engulfed in flames, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene. Emergency responders and firefighters rushed to the area, where rescuers were observed pulling two people from the targeted car.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that the incident involved “an enemy strike on a car” in the center of Sidon. No immediate information was released regarding casualties or the identities of those inside the vehicle.

Sidon, a major commercial and population center on Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast, has been comparatively less affected than other parts of southern and eastern Lebanon that have experienced repeated Israeli strikes since the escalation of hostilities involving the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and Israel.

The city hosts the country’s largest Palestinian refugee camp and has also received large numbers of people displaced by ongoing conflict in southern Lebanon.

The strike was the latest reported attack on Sidon after an Israeli strike on a building in the city on May 28 killed five people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

Separately on Wednesday, the Israeli military said its forces operating in southern Lebanon detained two individuals who approached troops in the area.

In a statement, the military said soldiers identified two “suspected individuals” near positions where Israeli forces were operating. The individuals were apprehended and transferred to Israel for questioning after troops moved to eliminate any potential threat.

The military did not provide further details regarding the identities of the detainees or the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The developments underscore continuing security tensions along the Israel-Lebanon frontier, where military activity and cross-border hostilities have persisted despite international calls for de-escalation.

United States Southern Command released video footage on social media showing what appeared to be a vessel at sea moments before an explosion engulfed it in flames.The military said it immediately alerted the United States Coast Guard to begin search-and-rescue operations for the surviving individual.The strike marked the latest in a series of U.S. military operations targeting suspected drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea since September

. According to Associated Press reporting, the campaign has resulted in at least 193 deaths. The Pentagon has repeatedly said the targeted vessels were operating along known drug-smuggling routes and linked to trafficking networks, though officials have not publicly presented evidence showing that the destroyed boats were carrying narcotics.

The operation came days after the White House announced that President Donald Trump had approved a revised U.S. counterterrorism strategy prioritizing the dismantling of drug cartels across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Trump has described cartels as an “unacceptable threat” to hemispheric security and has urged regional governments to intensify military cooperation with Washington against organized crime and transnational gangs.

The strikes have intensified in recent weeks despite growing scrutiny from legal scholars and human rights groups, who have questioned the legality of using military force against suspected traffickers outside conventional armed conflict zones.

Critics have argued the operations risk constituting extrajudicial killings because the U.S. government has disclosed limited evidence about the identities of those targeted or the intelligence underpinning the attacks.

The campaign has also coincided with a major expansion of U.S. military activity in Latin America and Caribbean waters, where the administration says it is attempting to curb narcotics flows into the United States and disrupt cartel financing networks.