An alleged vessel carrying illicit drugs across international waters is the subject of an eighth military strike by the United States.
The boat in question was located in the Pacific Ocean for the first time, not the Caribbean Sea.
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Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, confirmed the strike on Wednesday, claiming it had occurred a day earlier.
The Department of War launched a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel carrying narcotics in the Eastern Pacific yesterday, according to Hegseth.
“The vessel was carrying two narco-terrorists during the attack, which took place in international waters. Both terrorists were killed.
A missile strikes a small blue boat that is clipping across the water, which is then caught in flames in a video that comes with Hegseth’s post.
President Donald Trump’s growing military campaign against Latin American cartels now has a new front, which raises questions about the legality and limits of his actions.
The Trump administration has, however, argued that the deadly bombing campaign was necessary to shield Americans from illegal drugs.
Hegseth repeated the theme in his statement on Wednesday, in which he compared the boat’s occupants to the militant group al-Qaeda, in which it has attempted to portray drug traffickers as enemy combatants.
These cartels are fighting on our border and our people, just as Al Qaeda did on our own country. Hegseth wrote on Wednesday that there will be no refuge or forgiveness, just justice.
However, some claim that the attacks were a blatant violation of international and US law, which typically forbids extrajudicial killings when carried out indefinitely. Additionally, it is unlawful to label someone a “terrorist” in order to justify a deadly attack.
According to Brian Finucane, a researcher for the International Crisis Group nonprofit, “there’s a lot of difference between these (alleged) unspecified narcos and al Qaeda.”
“No armed attack on U. S. like 9/11. No fighting between the armed forces. Just the U.S. government carried out arbitrary killings.
A timeline of airstrikes
The air strike on Wednesday was first reported by CBS News, using espionage from US officials. According to government reports, 34 people have died as a result of Trump’s bombing campaign on Tuesday.
Trump announced on his social media account on September 2 that he had ordered “a kinetic strike” that morning on a small boat traveling through international waters.
In the attack, eleven people were killed, including the one who Trump called “terrorists.” No information about their destinations or cargoes was disclosed, nor was there any documentation of their whereabouts.
Trump pleaded with the passengers of the boat to be unarmed and give notice that this would serve as evidence of a possible link to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, saying, “Please let this serve as notice to anyone even considering bringing drugs into the United States of America.”
Following, more attacks. Three people were killed in a third strike on September 15 in the Caribbean. A third strike then occurred on September 19 that also killed three people.
The month afterward saw a resurgence of the bombing campaign. Hegseth made the announcement that four people had died as a result of a new strike on October 3. On October 14, six more people died.
However, the seventh known strike was a change from the Trump administration’s usual attack announcing process.
Trump and his associates were typically the first to share the attacks, sharing them on social media with grainy aerial footage.
However, on October 16, US media reported that a strike had occurred and that two people had survived, for the first time. A day later, the Trump administration confirmed the attack.
The survivors were quickly transported back to Ecuador and Colombia, where they were originally from. Equador has since released its survivor, claiming that there is no proof that he ever committed a crime.
Trump then went further and said the men were “riding in a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE.” He confirmed that the attack also claimed the lives of two more victims.
On October 17, a seventh strike occurred shortly after. The three people who were killed on the boat were later identified as members of Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN), a rebel group.
Previous strikes on ships had primarily been caused by Venezuela, whose president, Nicolas Maduro, has long had a hostile relationship with Trump.
Since the attacks began, both Venezuela and the US have increased their military presence along the Caribbean.
fears about the expansion of military operations
The string of attacks marks Trump’s most recent admission that he is willing to aggressively combat the flow of illegal drugs.
He attributes the Maduro administration to his campaign against drug trafficking, accusing the Venezuelan leader of being the mastermind behind the Tren de Aragua gang’s schemes.
However, there isn’t any evidence that Maduro is connected to Tren de Aragua or its illicit drug trade.
Instead, a declassified memo from May revealed that Maduro’s alleged role in the gang’s leadership was disproven by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence, giving the impression that Trump is not at odds with him.
Trump has used the alleged links between Maduro and Tren de Aragua to justify his use of wartime laws, including the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
Although courts have largely rejected that justification, Trump has repeatedly argued that the US is facing an “invasion” of Latin American criminals.
However, Latin America has been concerned by Trump’s alleged willingness to engage in military action abroad.
Trump issued an executive order on January 20 that directed his administration to name drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations,” a term that has been used to describe foreign actors who aim to destabilize the US.
Then, according to reports, Trump reportedly reportedly enacted a secret order in August for the US military to begin fighting cartels.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum sparked doubts about a potential strike on her country’s soil when informed of the order. She stated to reporters that month that “the United States is not going to come to Mexico with their military.”
Trump, however, has considered whether or not he might start conducting land-based operations.
He stated to reporters in the Oval Office this month, “Many of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea.” However, we’re also going to stop them on land.
He also confirmed that he had authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to launch covert operations in Venezuela.
The recent wave of attacks was justified by a memo Trump reportedly sent to Congress that claimed the alleged drug dealers were “unlawful combatants” in a “non-international armed conflict.”
Identity and legality remain in dispute.
However, the strategy behind the attacks has been questioned by the repeated strikes on nautical vessels.
The US government has acknowledged that the majority of illicit drugs travel by land, particularly at Mexican border entry points.
The lack of information about the boat strikes has also fueled rumors that the people aboard were actually engaged in any illegal activity.
One family in Trinidad and Tobago claims that one of the missile strikes resulted in the death of their loved one, a fisherman. President Gustavo Petro in Colombia has also claimed that Alejandro Carranza, a Colombian, was among the dead.
Alejandro Carranza, a fishing angler, had no connections to drug trafficking, and did not do so on social media this month.
He demanded an explanation from the US government, saying that “US government officials have murdered and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters.”
A group of three UN experts called for the bombings to end, citing a UN Charter violation, on Tuesday.
According to the UN experts, “the use of lethal force in international waters amounts to extrajudicial execution” without a sound legal basis.
