The US on Friday carried out another strike on suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said.
Four people were killed in the “lethal, kinetic strike” and no US forces were harmed, Mr Hegseth said in a post on X.
“Our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people on-board were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route,” he wrote. “These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!”
In an accompanying video, a fast boat can be seen traversing a body of water before an explosion engulfs the vessel in flames.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump had ordered the strike “with his responsibility to protect the United States interests abroad and in furtherance of the US national security and foreign policy interests”.
She added that the vessels US forces are striking “have been assessed by the US intelligence community to be affiliated with designated terrorist organisations engaged at the time and trafficking illicit drugs to our country”.
This is at least the fourth US strike on alleged drug traffickers operating off the coast of Venezuela in the Caribbean. Critics have accused the administration of carrying out extrajudicial killings and raised doubts that the boats were actually carrying smugglers.
Mr Trump last month designated Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal group, as a terrorist organisation.
In August, the US said it would send more than 4,000 sailors and marines to patrol the seas off Latin America as part of Mr Trump's operation against drug cartels.
The latest strike came after the Trump administration sent a memo to Congress this week, in which the President said he had determined that the US is engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels. The notification was probably aimed at providing legal cover for the recent strikes.
The notice sent by the Pentagon to Congress says the US “has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defence and defence of others against the continuing attacks” by drug-trafficking groups. It was first reported by The New York Times on Thursday.
Also on Thursday, Venezuela said several US fighter jets had breached its airspace.
Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino described the incident as a “provocation” and a threat to national security.
“They are combat aircraft – combat aircraft that US imperialism has dared to approach the Venezuelan coast [with],” Mr Padrino said in comments broadcast on state television.
Washington has accused Venezuela of sending drugs and criminals to the US in a bid to destabilise the country. The US has issued a $50 million bounty for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Concerns are rising in Latin America that US military action against alleged drug traffickers could eventually include strikes on land targets or even invasion, and Mr Maduro has accused Mr Trump of trying to initiate regime change.
A senior administration official told Semafor this week that the White House was not ruling out strikes on Venezuela.
“If Venezuela is sending drug cartels to the United States by land or sea, he’ll consider action on it,” the official said.
