U.S. forces carried out another strike on Friday against a vessel off the coast of Venezuela that was transporting narcotics, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Friday.
Four individuals described by the Pentagon as “narco-terrorists” were killed in the operation.
The strike marked the latest U.S. action against alleged drug-smuggling operations in the Caribbean and came one day after President Trump formally notified lawmakers that the United States is now engaged in hostilities with drug cartels.
WARNING: GRAPHIC
In the memo, Trump classified cartel members and associates as unlawful combatants, a designation that grants the president wartime authority to target them militarily, the Washington Times reported.
Hegseth later stated in a social media post that U.S. intelligence confirmed “with 100% certainty” that the vessel was transporting drugs.
“The strike was conducted in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics — headed to America to poison our people,” Mr. Hegseth said on X.
“Our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route,” he said. “These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!”
Friday’s strike marked at least the fourth time in recent months that U.S. forces have attacked a vessel in international waters accused of transporting drugs from Venezuela to the United States. The Trump administration has argued the operations are necessary to disrupt the flow of narcotics into American cities.
Critics, however, contend the administration lacks clear legal authority for such actions. They warn that targeting small boats so close to Venezuela’s coastline risks escalating tensions and potentially sparking a broader conflict with Caracas.
The Venezuelan government, led by President Nicolás Maduro, has repeatedly objected to the presence of U.S. military assets in the region and to the strikes themselves.
Earlier this week, Trump issued a designation aimed at addressing questions about the legal basis for the operations. By declaring that the U.S. is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels — comparable to the conflicts with al-Qaeda and other Islamist groups since 2001 — the administration maintains it can lawfully target cartel members as enemy combatants.
That designation also provides authority to detain them indefinitely without trial and prosecute them in military tribunals, the Times reported.
“The President determined that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations,” the memo says. Trump directed the War Department to “conduct operations against them pursuant to the law of armed conflict.”
“The United States has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defense and defense of others against the ongoing attacks by these designated terrorist organizations,” the memo says, per the AP.
Beyond marking a potential shift in Trump’s “America First” agenda, which emphasizes limiting foreign interventions, the declaration raises significant questions about the scope of presidential war powers, said the outlet.
It remains unclear how far the White House intends to extend its authority in targeting cartels — and whether Congress will move to assert its role in authorizing or restricting such military actions.
“The United States is taking a much more dramatic step — one that I think is a very, very far stretch of international law and a dangerous one,” Matthew Waxman, a national security official in the George W. Bush administration, told the AP.
“It “means the United States can target members of those cartels with lethal force. It means the United States can capture and detain them without trial,” he added.
The U.S. military conducted three strikes last month against boats in the Caribbean that officials said were transporting narcotics, with at least two of the vessels reportedly originating from Venezuela.