Mike Baker

We're again seeing how the U.S.

is going after drug cartels, and this time it's playing out in Ecuador, where American commandos are on the ground backing a targeted mission against a suspected narco-terrorist organization.

In recent days, those U.S.

Special Operations Forces joined Ecuadorian troops in an operation known as Lanzamarina, or Maritime Spear.

And I wanted to walk you through what we know so far, because this wasn't just a routine joint training exercise.

Not by any means.

We're learning that this is a targeted mission aimed at a coastal compound, believed to be a staging hub for Los Choneros.

That's one of the most violent and well-connected criminal organizations operating in the region.

Two U.S.

officials, speaking to CBS News on the condition of anonymity, said the site was being used to launch high-speed boats tied to international drug trafficking routes.

According to those U.S.

officials, the special operations forces are operating in an advisory role, but also accompanying Ecuadorian units on the ground as they move in on the compound.

So this is no longer just about training or intelligence sharing.

You have American forces physically moving alongside partner troops as they go after networks tied to what the Trump administration classifies as narco-terrorist organizations.

And this matters because groups like Los Choneros aren't just local Ecuadorian gangs.

They're transnational networks that have evolved over decades, moving drugs via ties to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and criminal groups from Albania, embedding them

themselves in global cocaine trafficking routes.

So they're being treated not just as criminal enterprises, but as threats to U.S.

national security.

And this kind of operation is enabled by a set of long-standing Department of War authorities, such as security cooperation agreements and train-and-equip programs that allow U.S.