8 Killed as US Unleashes Deadly Strikes on Drug Boats
Eight people were killed after US military strikes on alleged drug boats, raising fears of extrajudicial killings amid Trump’s drug war escalation.
The US military says it has attacked three drug-smuggling boats in the Pacific Ocean, killing eight people.
US Southern Command posted footage of the attacks on social media and said the vessels were "transiting known drug trafficking routes... and were involved in drug trafficking."
More than 20 vessels have been targeted in the Pacific and Caribbean in recent months, killing at least 90 people, as part of a campaign by President Donald Trump targeting drug cartels operating in the region.
Some experts say these attacks may violate the laws governing armed conflict.
The first attack by the US – on September 2 – has come under particular scrutiny because it involved not one but two attacks, with survivors of the first attack being killed in the second.
Several legal experts have confirmed that the second attack by the US military on the alleged Venezuelan drug boat was likely illegal and would be considered an extrajudicial killing under international law.
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Earlier, a former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said the US military operation amounted to a planned, systematic attack against civilians in peacetime.
In response, the White House said it acted in accordance with the laws of armed conflict to protect the US from cartels that are "trying to bring poison to our shores... destroying American lives."
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to brief members of both houses of Congress on Tuesday, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Politico reported that officials were scheduled to show video of the controversial "double-tap" incident to all members of both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees later this week. Hegseth is under pressure to release the footage publicly. In recent months, the Trump administration has accused Venezuela of shipping narcotics to the United States and has intensified its efforts to isolate President Nicolás Maduro.
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It has designated two Venezuelan criminal groups—Tren de Aragua and Cartel de Los Soles—as foreign terrorist organizations.
Thousands of troops and the world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, have been deployed within striking distance of Venezuela.
On December 10, U.S. forces seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast, which the U.S. claimed was being used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran as part of an "illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations." Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil called the seizure "international piracy" and claimed that Trump wants to gain control of Venezuela's vast oil reserves.
As part of Trump's broader crackdown on the flow of drugs into the U.S., he has now officially declared fentanyl—the drug most responsible for fatal overdoses in the United States—a weapon of mass destruction.
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