The United States military conducted a lethal strike on a small vessel in international waters off the coast of Venezuela on Tuesday, killing all six people aboard, President Donald Trump announced. The vessel was accused of trafficking narcotics and being connected to “narcoterrorist networks.”
In a post on social media, President Trump confirmed the strike and said no U.S. forces were harmed. He stated that the operation, which he said was ordered by the Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth, was the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean under his administration’s policy of treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force.
The President claimed that “Intelligence” had confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics on a known drug route and was associated with “illicit narcoterrorist networks.” Defense Secretary Hegseth later shared a video of the strike on his social media platform.
READ: ‘These Strikes Will Continue’: War Secretary Confirms New Lethal Attack On Venezuela-Linked Vessel
The Trump administration’s policy, which asserts that the U.S. is in a “non-international armed conflict” with designated drug cartels, has drawn significant criticism and legal scrutiny on Capitol Hill.
Democrats, and some Republicans, have raised concerns about the legal justification for the military strikes, with some lawmakers arguing that the actions violate U.S. and international law. A recent Senate vote on a war powers resolution that would have required specific congressional authorization for such strikes ultimately failed to pass.
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