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The US is deploying more than 4,000 marines and sailors to waters in the Caribbean as part of an exercise to combat drug cartels.

US defence officials told CNN that the deployment of the two Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit was part of a broader repositioning of military assets to the Southern Command (Southcom) jurisdiction. The repositioning has been going on for the last three weeks, CNN has said.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio in a clip posted on the US Department of State’s social media profiles said confirmed that the US will confront narco-terrorism in the region.