American forces have now killed 21 people in four vessels in international waters, officials say. Critics argue that the administration has not provided a proper legal rationale for the strikes.
The Pentagon carried out Friday another lethal strike on what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said was a boat carrying drugs off the coast of Venezuela. Four individuals were killed.
Hegseth said on X that the strike occurred Friday morning on a “narco-trafficking vessel” that U.S. intelligence indicated was affiliated with a designated terrorist organization.
“Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike and no U.S. forces were harmed in the operation,” Hegseth wrote.
The strike is the fourth known U.S. attack against what the Trump administration says are narco-terrorists smuggling drugs. With this attack, American forces have now killed 21 individuals in four vessels in international waters over the last several weeks, according to administration officials.
Democratic lawmakers, as well as some Republicans, say the Trump administration has not provided a proper legal rationale for the strikes.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, condemned the strike in a statement.
“Every American should be alarmed that the President believes he can wage secret wars against anyone he chooses,” said Reed. “Congress alone has the constitutional power to decide when America goes to war. The President cannot launch military campaigns and invent legal cover after the fact.”
Hegseth said that the strike on Friday morning occurred in international waters near Venezuela while the boat was transporting “substantial amounts of narcotics — headed to America to poison our people.”
President Donald Trump posted a message of his own regarding the attack.
“A boat loaded with enough drugs to kill 25 TO 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE was stopped, early this morning off the Coast of Venezuela, from entering American Territory,” Trump wrote, without describing how he knew what type of drugs were on the vessel.