President Donald Trump announced that his troops had carried out another strike in the Caribbean
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President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. military had carried out another strike against a suspected drug trafficking vessel off the coast of Venezuela, killing six suspected traffickers.
“Under my continuing authority as Commander in Chief, this morning, the Secretary of War ordered a lethal kinetic strike against a vessel affiliated with a designated terrorist organization (DTO) conducting narcotics trafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility – just off the coast of Venezuela. Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was trafficking narcotics, associated with illicit networks of narcoterrorists, and was transiting a known DTO route,” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social.
US STRIKES ANOTHER DRUG TRAFFICKING BOAT NEAR VENEZUELA, KILLING 4
President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social in September that he had ordered a deadly strike against a ship linked to a designated terrorist organization operating in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility. (@realDonaldTrump via Truth Social)
“The strike was conducted in international waters and six male narcoterrorists on board the ship were killed in the strike,” Trump said. “No American forces were injured.”
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday that Venezuela was “a major supplier of drugs” and accused Venezuela of sending its “criminals” to the United States.
The strikes come after the White House sent lawmakers a memo on September 30 informing them that the United States is now engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug traffickers.
Additionally, this follows four other deadly strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean since September.
The War Department on Friday unveiled a new joint counternarcotics task force in the Southern Command area of responsibility, according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Trump unleashes American military power against the cartels. IS A WIDER WAR COMING ON?
The task force seeks to “crush the cartels, stop the poison, and keep America safe.” Hegseth wrote on Friday X. “The message is clear: if you smuggle drugs to our shores, we will stop you in your tracks.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivers his speech at the 22nd Shangri-La Dialogue Summit in Singapore, May 31, 2025. (The Associated Press)
Despite this, members of Congress have questioned the legality of the strikes. For example, Senators Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, and Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, introduced a war powers resolution in September to prohibit U.S. forces from engaging in “hostilities” against certain non-state organizations.
“Congress did not authorize the use of force in this manner,” Schiff told reporters Wednesday. “I think it’s clearly unconstitutional. The fact that the administration claims to have a list and has put organizations on a list does not give the administration the authority to usurp the power of Congress to declare war or refuse to declare war or refuse to authorize the use of force.”
But the measure failed to gain momentum and failed in the Senate on Wednesday by a margin of 51 to 48. However, Republicans Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted alongside their Democratic counterparts for the resolution.
TRUMP ALL STRIKES US AS MADURO SLAMS MILITARY “THREAT” TO VENEZUELA
Senator Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, speaks during a press conference introducing the 2025 assault weapons ban April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Trump suggested the strikes would continue and told military leaders in September that “the military is now on a knife’s edge in the fight against this sinister enemy.”
“We have to warn the traffickers and the cartels. … If you try to poison our people, we will make you disappear, because that’s the only language they really understand,” Trump told military leaders in Quantico, Virginia, on September 30. “That’s why you don’t see boats in the ocean anymore. You don’t see boats around Venezuela anymore. There’s nothing.”
Meanwhile, Venezuela has requested an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council due to the strikes. Venezuela requested an emergency session in a letter sent Thursday to Russian Ambassador to the UN and Council President Vassily Nebenzia.
“The ulterior motive remains the same that has characterized the actions of the United States of America towards Venezuela for over 26 years: to advance its policy of ‘regime change’ in order to gain control of the vast natural resources found on Venezuelan territory,” Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s ambassador to the UN, wrote in the letter.
After the second U.S. military strike, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said the episode was part of a broader effort “to intimidate and seek regime change” in Venezuela. The Trump administration has regularly asserted that it does not recognize Maduro as a legitimate head of state and instead views him as the leader of a drug cartel.
The White House and Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
