The U.S. navy carried out one other strike on an alleged “narco-trafficking vessel” within the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, killing 4 individuals, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned — marking a minimum of the fifteenth boat to be hit within the Trump administration’s two-month-long marketing campaign of strikes which have killed greater than 60 individuals.
Hegseth posted a video of a ship strike on X. He mentioned the strike was performed in worldwide waters, and alleged that the boat was operated by an unnamed designated terrorist group. He mentioned no U.S. forces have been harmed.
A picture of Wednesday’s boat strike posted to X by Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The navy started placing alleged drug-carrying boats within the Caribbean Sea early final month, and expanded the operations to the Jap Pacific in latest weeks. In some, however not all, circumstances, the Trump administration has mentioned the boats have been linked to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The administration has vowed to proceed finishing up the strikes, arguing the U.S. is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and gangs in Latin America, lots of which the U.S. has designated as overseas terrorist organizations.
“The Western Hemisphere is no longer a safe haven for narco-terrorists bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans,” Hegseth wrote Wednesday on X. “The Department of War will continue to hunt them down and eliminate them wherever they operate.”
Mr. Trump has additionally floated the opportunity of strikes on land-based targets, saying final week, “The land is going to be next.”
The marketing campaign has drawn pushback from some lawmakers who need extra proof that the targets have been truly smuggling medication and warn that it may draw the U.S. right into a battle within the area. Congress has not approved the strikes, although the Trump administration argues it doesn’t want permission from the legislature.
Venezuela and Colombia have additionally expressed outrage over the strikes, that are a part of a broader navy buildup within the Caribbean, with a number of U.S. ships and 1000’s of troops deploying to the area.
The administration has heaped stress on the federal government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of partnering with drug traffickers — a cost he denies. A U.S. warship docked in close by Trinidad and Tobago over the weekend, which the Venezuelan authorities known as a “hostile provocation.”
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