US Military Used Civilian-Disguised Aircraft in Venezuela Boat Strike, Raising Laws-of-War Concerns

AP reporting revealed on January 12, 2026 that a US military aircraft used in a fall 2025 boat strike off Venezuela's coast was painted to look like a civilian plane and carried munitions hidden inside the fuselage rather than externally. Pentagon law-of-war manuals explicitly prohibit "feigning civilian status" while attacking — the practice legally known as perfidy. The plane belonged to a secret US surveillance fleet. The disclosure came weeks after the January 3, 2026 Operation Absolute Resolve, in which 150+ US aircraft captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.