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President Donald Trump said Tuesday the United States conducted another military strike on a small boat off the coast of Venezuela, killing six people he described as narcotics traffickers.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the “lethal kinetic strike” targeted a vessel tied to illicit narcoterrorist networks. He said the operation was ordered “under my Standing Authorities as Commander-in-Chief” by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that it operated along a known drug trafficking route in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility. He said the strike occurred in international waters and that “six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed.”
“No U.S. Forces were harmed. Thank you for your attention to this matter!!!!!!” Trump added. He also shared video footage of the operation.
It was the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean, as the administration has said it is treating alleged drug traffickers as “unlawful combatants” subject to military force. Officials said previous strikes killed 21 people and involved boats the White House said were carrying drugs, including three originating from Venezuela.
Hegseth said Friday the War Department is establishing a new counter-narcotics joint task force under U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations across South America, Central America and the Caribbean.
“At the President’s direction, the Department of War is establishing a new counter-narcotics Joint Task Force in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility to crush the cartels, stop the poison, and keep America safe,” Hegseth wrote in a post to X last week. “The message is clear: if you traffic drugs toward our shores, we will stop you cold.”
Last month, President Trump said that U.S. forces sank three boats transporting narcotics from Venezuela, updating earlier reports that two vessels had been struck.
“We knocked off actually three boats, not two. But you saw two,” Trump told reporters during a press gaggle at the White House. “The problem is there are very few boats out on the water … I can’t imagine why, not even fishing boats.”
The president said U.S. forces destroyed a boat carrying drugs from Venezuela, killing three people on board. He added that the military would continue targeting drug cartels.