Residents of the Catatumbo region, along Colombia’s border with Venezuela, were jolted awake early Sunday by the roar of two Kfir combat aircraft overhead. The sound immediately fueled speculation on social media that the government had launched another airstrike in the area, which has seen fierce fighting between armed groups.
The flyover came just after drones packed with explosives struck a military battalion in the town of Ocaña, wounding three soldiers. That attack prompted Colombia’s Defense Ministry to announce new security measures for the region, which has long been a stronghold for coca cultivation and armed groups fighting for territorial control.
Memories of an actual bombing run were still fresh: on August 11, the current administration carried out its first airstrike in Catatumbo, targeting the National Liberation Army (ELN)—Colombia’s last active leftist guerrilla group—and killing eight of its fighters.
But judicial sources told the newspaper El Tiempo that this time was different. The Kfir jets—Israeli-designed fighters used by Colombia’s air force—did not drop any bombs. Instead, their appearance was part of a broader, two-day military operation intended purely as a deterrent, aimed at containing violent clashes between the ELN and a dissident faction of the demobilized FARC’s 33rd Front, led by an alias commander known as Calarcá.
You can read the full original report at El Tiempo for more details on the operation.
Source: ¿Hubo un bombardeo en el Catatumbo? Esto hay detrás del sobrevuelo de dos aviones Kfir en la región (eltiempo.com). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: Image Catalog, CC0 1.0 (via Openverse).