WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing options for carrying out military strikes targeting drug cartels operating inside Venezuela, including possible strikes within the country, CNN reported on Friday, citing multiple sources.

A strike inside Venezuela would mark a dramatic escalation in U.S. tensions with the South American country.

Earlier in the week, the U.S. military struck a boat from Venezuela in the southern Caribbean, leaving 11 people dead, because, according to Trump, the vessel was transporting illegal narcotics.

The strike was just the beginning of a much larger effort to rid the region of narcotics trafficking and potentially dislodge Venezuela’s leftist president, Nicolas Maduro, from power, CNN reported.

Neither the White House nor the Venezuelan

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