Following recent reports about a US Navy commander ordering a second strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat that had already been incapacitated, Al Jazeera published a piece explaining what ‘double tap’ strikes are and providing a number of historical examples of when U.S. forces have been accused of using so-called double taps in the past.

Airwars has published dozens of incidents that resemble double tap strikes across multiple conflicts, with most incidents recorded by Russian forces in Syria, and a number of cases from Israeli military attacks in Gaza. Though there is no single agreed upon definition of double taps, often these are incidents of harm resulting from a follow-up strike or series of strikes following an initial attack, often associated with attacks on rescue efforts.

Al Jazeera included a number of incidents from Airwars’ archive where sources alleged that the U.S. had used this tactic, including from the recent U.S. campaign in Yemen, and also referred to our work on Israeli actions in Gaza.