US targets suspected drug-terror vessel off Venezuela; six killed in strike, Trump says — Watch

The has targeted a vessel, accusing it of being affiliated with a " (DTO)" conducting in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility, just off the Coast of Venezuela, and killed six people who were on that boat, President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday.

Trump claimed that defence secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the strike Tuesday morning and released a video of the operation, continuing his previous actions.


He asserted that the strike occurred in international waters and that “Intelligence” confirmed the vessel was involved in narcotics trafficking, linked to “narcoterrorist networks,” and was operating on a recognised drug trafficking route.

"Under my Standing Authorities as Commander-in-Chief, this morning, the Secretary of War, ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility — just off the Coast of Venezuela," he said in a post on Truth Social.


"Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route. The strike was conducted in International Waters, and six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike. No U.S. Forces were harmed," he added.

This marks the fifth fatal strike in the Caribbean as the Trump administration maintains that it is treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be countered with military force. Growing frustration with the administration has been evident on Capitol Hill among members of both major political parties.

Several Republicans are requesting more information from the White House regarding the legal justification and specifics of the strikes. Meanwhile, Democrats argue that the strikes contravene US and international law.

Last week, the Senate voted on a war powers resolution intended to prevent the Trump administration from conducting such strikes without explicit congressional approval, but the resolution did not pass. In a memo to Congress obtained by

The Associated Press, the Trump administration stated it had “determined that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organisations” and that Trump directed the Pentagon to “conduct operations against them pursuant to the law of armed conflict.”

However, the Trump administration has not yet provided lawmakers with the underlying evidence to substantiate that the boats targeted by the US military in these fatal strikes were indeed transporting narcotics, according to two US officials familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The strikes followed an unprecedented buildup of US maritime forces in the Caribbean.

Last week, Venezuelan Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino informed military leaders that the US government is aware that the drug-trafficking allegations used to justify recent actions in the Caribbean are false, with the true aim being to “force a regime change” in the South American nation.

He added that the Venezuelan government does not view the deployment of US warships as a mere “propaganda-like action” and cautioned against potential escalation. “I want to warn the population: We have to prepare ourselves because the irrationality with which the US empire operates is not normal,” Padrino stated during a televised gathering. “It’s anti-political, anti-human, warmongering, rude, and vulgar.”