The United States and Ecuador carried out joint strikes inside Ecuador as part of an ongoing operation targeting drug trafficking, US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said in a statement on Friday.

SOUTHCOM said that its commander, General Francis Donovan, at the order of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, directed the joint force to support Ecuadorian forces conducting what it called "lethal kinetic operations against Designated Terrorist Organizations" within the Latin American country.

"We are advancing alongside our partners in the fight against narcoterrorism," the statement posted on X said.

What do we know about the operation in Ecuador?

The strikes were conducted in the northeastern province of Sucumbios, situated close to Ecuador's border with Colombia.

Helicopters, aircraft, river boats and drones were used to locate ​and bomb ‌a drug traffickers' training camp in the area, Ecuador's Defense Ministry said.

The camp belonged to Colombian crime group Comandos de la Frontera (CDF), a dissident faction of the FARC guerrilla group,  Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said on Instagram.

"We destroyed the hideout of Mono Tole, the leader of the CDF, and a training area for drug traffickers," the right-wing leader said as he posted a video of a compound in a forested area exploding, leaving a white plume of smoke.

It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or captured in the strikes.

Ecuador's drug crackdown

Noboa, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, has been working closely with US authorities to stem the flow of drugs from his country to the United States.

A military clampdown on organized crime is a key focus of Noboa's government.

The 38-year-old president's administration has also levied tariffs on neighboring Colombia, accusing it of not doing enough to combat drug trafficking.

Earlier this week, Noboa held talks in the capital, Quito, with Donovan and Mark Schafer, head of US Special Operations in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

The trio discussed plans for the sharing of information and operational coordination at airports and seaports, the Ecuadorian president's office said in a statement.

Noboa is expected at the ​Trump administration's "Shield of the Americas" meeting in the US city of Miami.

The summit is set to bring together several right-wing leaders across the region with a focus on ‌regional security, drug trafficking and migration.

Edited by: Sean Sinico