The U.S. military has carried out another lethal strike on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Saturday.
Hegseth, in a social media post, said a U.S.-designated terrorist organization allegedly operated the vessel but did not name which group was targeted. He said three people were killed in the strike.
It’s at least the 15th such strike carried out by the U.S. military in the Caribbean or eastern Pacific since early September. The U.S. military has now killed at least 64 people in the strikes.
“This vessel—like EVERY OTHER—was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth said in a post on social media.
Hegseth said no U.S. forces were harmed in the strike.
The news comes after the Pentagon announced on Oct. 24 that it would be sending the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier, to the waters off Latin America. This move dramatically increased the number of service members and ships dedicated to the Trump administration’s campaign to counter narcotics traffickers.
President Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. He has asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The White House has repeatedly rebuffed U.S. lawmakers in their demand that the administration release more information about the legal justification for the strikes, as well as greater details about which cartels have been targeted and the individuals killed.
Hegseth, in his Saturday post announcing the latest strike, said “narco-terrorists are bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans at home” and the Defense Department “will treat them EXACTLY how we treated Al-Qaeda.”
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in an exclusive interview with CBS News on Oct. 24 that some of those killed in the U.S. strikes have been innocent civilians, and he reiterated his accusation that the attacks violate international law.
Senate Democrats renewed their request for more information about the strikes in a letter on Friday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Hegseth.
“We also request that you provide all legal opinions related to these strikes and a list of the groups or other entities the President has deemed targetable,” the senators wrote.
Among those signing the letter were Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as well as Sens. Jack Reed, Jeanne Shaheen, Mark Warner, Chris Coons, Patty Murray and Brian Schatz.
The letter says that thus far the administration “has selectively shared what has at times been contradictory information” with some members, “while excluding others.”
Earlier Friday, the Republican chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee released a pair of letters sent to Hegseth, written in late September and early October, requesting the department’s legal rationale for the strikes and the list of drug cartels that the Trump administration has designated as terrorist organizations in its justification for the use of military force.
Hegseth is currently on a tour of Asia, having met Sunday with Vietnamese President Luong Cuong.
