US Military Strikes 2 Boats in Eastern Pacific, Killing 5 Narco-Terrorists

Five male narco-terrorists were killed Thursday when U.S. forces attacked two vessels in the Eastern Pacific, the U.S. Southern Command reported.

Three fatalities were in the first vessel and two in the second, according to a post on X. No U.S. military forces were harmed, the post stated.

Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted the strikes, which targeted two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters and traveling known narco-trafficking routes, U.S. Southern Command stated in the post.

The operation, directed by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, was based on intelligence that had confirmed the boats to be engaging in smuggling operations, according to the statement.

The strikes were undertaken as part of Operation Southern Spear, an initiative that has broadened since President Donald Trump’s administration designated several Mexican cartels and foreign gangs as global terrorists in February.

The U.S. Department of State labeled the Sinaloa cartel, Gulf cartel, Jalisco New Generation cartel, United cartels, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, and Northeast cartel as terrorist organizations, alongside Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and El Salvador’s MS-13. The designation provided the legal framework for military actions, describing drug trafficking as a national security threat.

“We will track them, we will map them, we will network them, and we will hunt them and kill them because they’re trying to and they are killing and poisoning the American people,” Hegseth said in an October White House briefing.

He noted that the United States has “all the license necessary, all the authorities necessary to take these kinetic strikes, and we’ll continue to take them.” After an earlier strike off the coast of Venezuela, Hegseth warned that “anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco-terrorist will face the same fate.”

As of mid-December, the U.S. military has conducted at least 26 strikes on drug vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, leading to the deaths of more than 99 individuals officials said were confirmed narco-terrorists. A Dec. 17 strike killed one in a similar Eastern Pacific operation, while an attack on Dec. 15 targeted three vessels, killing eight people.

The strikes come amid a series of executive actions by Trump, including designating fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction and imposing a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers the U.S. president alleged have financed drug operations in Venezuela. Venezuela, meanwhile, has alleged such moves as “international piracy.”

Meanwhile, Congressional attempts in the United States to require approval for these strikes have been rejected in the House.

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said a classified briefing he attended was “one of the most troubling things” he’s seen, stating individuals in distress were killed. Supporters like Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said the strikes as “entirely lawful and needed” to protect Americans from deadly illicit drugs.

Hegseth has described the mission as “deadly serious,” underscoring the targeted nature of the strikes.

“We knew exactly who was in that boat, we knew exactly what they were doing, and we knew exactly who they represented,” he said in September of a previous strike on Fox & Friends.