US: Operation Southern Spear: Four “narco-terrorists” are killed by a attack in the Eastern Pacific
US: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered the US military to target a ship passing through the Eastern Pacific on Wednesday, killing four suspected “narco-terrorists.”
This is a component of Operation Southern Spear, an operation to stop drug trafficking in the area that was started by US President Donald Trump’s administration.
The US Southern Command, which is in charge of US military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, said in a post on X that the ship was passing via an Eastern Pacific route that is known to be used for drug trafficking.
There were no recorded US military casualties.
“Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out a deadly kinetic attack on a vessel run by a Designated Terrorist Organization in international seas on December 17 at the order of @SecWar Pete Hegseth. Intelligence verified that the ship was involved in narco-trafficking activities and was traveling along a recognized route in the Eastern Pacific. No U.S. military personnel were injured, and four male narco-terrorists were killed in all. The Southern Command used the hashtag #OpSouthernSpear on X.
The US Southern Command said earlier on Tuesday that it killed eight suspected narco-terrorists by carrying out deadly attacks on three boats run by designated terrorist groups in international seas.
Since the start of the operation, attacks targeting suspected drug vessels have killed at least 95 individuals, according to prior US military claims.
According to CNN, which cited a different statement from the US Southern Command, US Marines killed four persons on board another suspected drug vessel earlier this month when they hit it in the Eastern Pacific on December 4.
Legal experts and politicians have questioned the advertising. The Trump administration has told Congress that the first attack on September 2 marked the start of the “armed conflict” between the United States and drug cartels. According to previous CNN reporting, US soldiers that day launched a second assault on a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean after the first attack failed to kill all of the people on board.
The legitimacy of the strikes has been questioned by several Democratic politicians and legal experts, who contend that further assaults would qualify as war crimes. Labeling those murdered as “unlawful combatants” and pointing to a Justice Department decision that is secret and permits deadly attacks without court review, the administration has justified its activities.
The military effort is a component of larger US pressure on Venezuela, which also includes repeated threats to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the deployment of thousands of soldiers and a carrier strike group to the Caribbean.
A day after US officials detained a sanctioned tanker off the coast of Venezuela, CNN reported that the United States also issued new sanctions last week on shipping firms and vessels suspected of aiding in the transportation of Venezuelan oil.