Donald Trump ordered the US military to strike a suspected drug-smuggling boat bound for the United States, killing two alleged narco-terrorists on board.
US Southern Command announced that the airstrike, which took place Sunday, hit a ship ‘operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific.’
‘Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking,’ the statement added. ‘This operation is a clear and decisive reminder that SOUTHCOM is taking the fight directly to the cartels.’
Black-and-white footage released alongside the announcement captured the vessel cutting through the water moments before it was engulfed by a massive blast.
US officials did not specify what type of craft was targeted, though it resembled an elongated semi-submersible commonly used by cartel members and known as a ‘narco sub.’
The strike is the latest salvo in Trump’s war against Latin American drug cartels, launched last September under the military campaign dubbed Operation Southern Spear.
Trump has since ordered the Pentagon to carry out dozens of attacks, releasing videos showing more than 200 suspected smugglers being killed aboard vessels allegedly carrying drugs toward the US through the eastern Pacific and Caribbean.
Neither the president nor the US military has provided definitive proof that those killed in the strikes were involved in drug trafficking.
US Southern Commander said in a statement that the airstrike, which took place Sunday, hit a ship ‘operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific’
Black-and-white footage released alongside the announcement captured the vessel cutting through the water moments before it was engulfed by a massive blast
US officials did not specify what type of craft was targeted, though it resembled an elongated semi-submersible commonly used by cartel members and known as a ‘narco sub’
Trump has since ordered the Pentagon to carry out dozens of attacks, releasing videos showing more than 200 suspected smugglers being killed aboard vessels allegedly carrying drugs toward the US through the eastern Pacific and Caribbean
‘We are committed to imposing total systemic friction on narco-terrorists — disrupting their operations, dismantling their leadership, and eliminating cartel terror across the region,’ said US General Francis L. Donovan in a statement Monday.
Democratic lawmakers have condemned Trump’s campaign against the cartels, arguing that the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings carried out without congressional authorization or clear evidence that those targeted were trafficking drugs.
Trump’s critics have also argued that the majority of fentanyl responsible for US drug overdoses is traditionally trafficked over land from Mexico not by sea.
Fentanyl is typically produced with chemicals imported from China and India before being smuggled into the US from Mexico.
Lawmakers from both parties have demanded unedited footage amid reports that follow-up strikes killed survivors who appeared to surrender.
Critics on Capitol Hill have raised the possibility that the second attack were war crimes, while Secretary of War Pete Hegseth argue the survivors remained a potential threat and were therefore legitimate targets.
Speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California last December, Hegseth stood firmly behind the follow-up attack.
‘I fully support that strike,’ Hegseth said. ‘I would have made the same call myself.’
Critics on Capitol Hill have raised the possibility that the second attack were war crimes, while Secretary of War Pete Hegseth argue the survivors remained a potential threat
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