Colombia’s military launched its seventh aerial bombing operation under President Abelardo de la Espriella on Monday, November 9, targeting a camp belonging to the FARC dissident Frente 33 in the rural municipality of Tibú, Norte de Santander. The operation comes just ten days after an airstrike against an ELN encampment in Venezuela’s Apure state, reportedly conducted by Venezuelan forces with intelligence and drone support from the United States.
Together, the two operations point to a potentially significant shift in the regional fight against Colombia’s illegal armed groups along the country’s 2100-Km Eastern border.
The Colombian operation, designated Operación Noah, was carried out in the mountainous Catatumbo by the Colombian Air Force (FAC), with the Frente 33 of the FARC dissidents as its main target. The principal objective was reportedly Andrey Avendaño, identified as a senior commander within the Estado Mayor Central (EMC).
According to reports, the operation resulted in four dead and six captured. Among those captured was alias Barba Chivo, described as a trusted associate of Avendaño. President De la Espriella announced the operation publicly, declaring that the government would maintain its military offensive against armed groups operating in the country.
The strike was the seventh aerial bombing under Executive order and third in Norte de Santander, a department that has become one of Colombia’s most contested security theatres.
Washington’s involvement in Venezuela
The Colombian operation follows a potentially more consequential development across the border.
On October 30, a camp attributed to the National Liberation Army (ELN) was struck in Venezuela’s Apure state, near the Colombian frontier. The attack reportedly killed at least 20 people, although the precise number and identities of those killed remain disputed.
According to The New York Times, Washington provided intelligence and drone support for the operation. A senior Venezuelan military officer also confirmed that an attack had taken place.
The involvement of American intelligence represents a significant development. For years, the ELN has maintained an extensive presence inside Venezuelan territory, using border areas as logistical corridors, refuges and operational bases. The Marxist guerrilla has also been linked to drug trafficking, illegal mining, fuel smuggling and attacks against oil infrastructure.
Venezuelan authorities have not publicly provided a detailed account of the operation or confirmed the extent of American participation. The operation, however, suggests a new willingness to target Colombian armed groups operating from Venezuelan territory, with Washington providing capabilities that could significantly improve the effectiveness of such strikes.
An emerging security alignment?
The timing of the two operations is not a coincidence. Colombia’s military is intensifying its offensive against FARC dissidents in the Catatumbo, while an ELN encampment has been struck on the Venezuelan side of the border with reported American assistance.
There are also emerging indications of intelligence cooperation involving Bogotá. A recent investigation citing intelligence sources affirms that Colombia’s National Police had supplied the US Southern Command with coordinates identifying the ELN camp in Apure.
The broader significance lies in the changing regional security environment. Under De la Espriella, Bogotá has sought closer military cooperation with the Trump administration, while Washington has intensified its campaign against drug trafficking networks and armed organisations across Latin America.
For the ELN and FARC dissident factions, the implications could be considerable. Their traditional ability to move between Colombian and Venezuelan territory has offered strategic depth, allowing commanders and fighters to exploit the limits of cross-border military cooperation.
That environment may now be changing.
Although there is no evidence that the two bombing operations were jointly planned or formed part of a single military campaign, they illustrate a growing convergence of interests among the governments confronting armed groups along the frontier.
For a region where the ELN has long benefited from the absence of coordinated action between neighbouring countries, the possibility of sustained intelligence-sharing and cross-border security cooperation could represent the beginning of a systematic effort to dismantle criminal networks that have made the Colombia-Venezuela border one of South America’s most persistent security challenges.
