Imagine a world map dotted with air and drone strikes—now think bigger. In the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term (Jan 20, 2025–Jan 5, 2026), the United States launched 573 air and drone strikes abroad—already exceeding the 494 strikes carried out during President Joe Biden’s full four-year term (Jan 20, 2021–Jan 20, 2025). 📊
ACLED (the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project) reports the US was involved in 1,008 foreign military events in at least nine countries over the past 12 months, resulting in approximately 1,093 fatalities. By comparison, Biden’s presidency saw 1,648 events and 1,518 deaths.
More than 80 percent of these 2025 strikes targeted Yemen’s Houthi rebels, accounting for over 530 estimated deaths. A separate Newsweek report notes at least 110 alleged drug traffickers were killed by US forces in international waters of the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific.
ACLED CEO Clionadh Raleigh calls this a “strike first, ask questions later” strategy. The numbers show that the Trump administration has leaned hard on rapid, high-impact military action as a first response, moving quickly and with fewer constraints than in previous years.
Recent operations in Venezuela and Nigeria demonstrate how swiftly this approach can translate into force. Raleigh warns that attention may soon turn to Greenland, Colombia, and Cuba—regions that, he argues, deserve to be treated as independent states with their own political agency rather than mere targets for control.
Raleigh adds that the second Trump administration is framing these places as problems to be managed and as sources of assets the US would benefit from controlling—whether that’s oil, territory, or strategic position.
Reference(s):
U.S. foreign strikes in Trump's 1st year more than Biden's presidency
cgtn.com
