President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to order a strike on a boat off the Venezuelan coast, killing the six people on board.
In a post online, Trump said the boat was affiliated with a “Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO)” but did not provide specifics.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route,” Trump wrote.
The president said the strike was conducted in international waters and confirmed that six males on the boat were killed in the strike. No U.S. forces were harmed, he said. Trump did not provide a specific reason for the strike, but noted his constitutional role as commander in chief.
Hegseth confirmed the strike in posts of his own, including an aerial surveillance video.
Tuesday’s strike is at least the fifth one since the administration began its operation against cartels and drug smuggling.
Trump says that Venezuela is targeting the United States by sending drugs and gang members into the country. Several recent U.S. presidents, including Trump, have had an adversarial relationship with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The U.S. military has in recent months ramped up its presence and efforts against drug cartels in the Caribbean Sea. In September, the U.S. deployed several warships and took out other vessels as part of its mission.
While Trump did not specifically name which terrorist organization the individuals on Tuesday were affiliated with, in previous attacks the military targeted members of the Tren de Aragua gang from Venezuela.
After the initial strike about a month ago, Trump said it should serve as a notice to anyone thinking about trying to bring drugs to the United States.
The Trump administration has accused Maduro of being responsible for trafficking drugs into the country for more than a decade.
However, some legal experts say the administration’s strikes on Venezuelan boats were premeditated and illegal. The military can’t target civilians who do not pose a threat in that moment, and since the Trump administration is striking them instead of having the Coast Guard arrest them on drug smuggling grounds, they are acting inconsistently with the laws of war, The New York Times wrote.