US Carries Out New Strikes on Alleged Drug Boats, Killing 8

The United States on Monday carried out airstrikes on three boats allegedly involved in narcotics trafficking, killing eight people aboard the vessels in the Eastern Pacific.

“On Dec. 15, at the direction of [Secretary of War] Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted lethal kinetic strikes on three vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters,” U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, wrote in a post on X.

U.S. Southern Command said that intelligence “confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes … and were engaged in narco-trafficking.”

The military said that the three strikes killed a total of eight “male narco-terrorists,” including “three men in the first vessel, two in the second, and three in the third.”

The announcement included video footage with aerial videos of the strikes. The unclassified video shows three separate sequences of high-speed boats with crosshairs targeting each vessel before impacts cause large explosions.

As of Monday, the U.S. military has conducted strikes on at least 25 suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean since early September. Reports indicate that 95 alleged traffickers have been killed in these strikes.

This most recent strike in the Eastern Pacific represents the latest under Operation Southern Spear, a U.S. military action to disrupt drug smuggling in the Western Hemisphere. The operation, announced by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in November, is focused on “narco-terrorists” involved in illicit activities. U.S. military strikes on alleged drug-smuggling vessels had earlier begun in early September in the Caribbean and later expanded into the Eastern Pacific.

“This mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people,” Hegseth said at the time. “The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood—and we will protect it.”

The U.S. Coast Guard has also supported these operations with drug seizures. In early December, more than 150,000 pounds of cocaine were offloaded in San Diego following interdictions in the Eastern Pacific. Another seizure of more than 20,000 pounds was announced shortly thereafter.

The campaign has also increased geopolitical tensions, especially with Venezuela. Some strikes have taken place in the vicinity of Venezuelan waters, as the Trump administration has accused the Maduro regime of working with narco-traffickers.