US OBLITERATES 3 More Venezuelan Drug Boats Just Hours After President Trump Designates Fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction
U.S. Southern Command announced Monday that Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out lethal strikes against three narcotrafficking vessels operating in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
According to SOUTHCOM, intelligence confirmed the boats were traveling along known drug-smuggling routes and were actively engaged in narcotics trafficking. Eight suspected narco-terrorists were killed in the operation—three on the first vessel, two on the second, and three on the third.
Video released from the strikes shows the vessels erupting into large explosions, leaving the boats destroyed and burning. In a statement posted on X, U.S. Southern Command said:
“On Dec. 15, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted lethal kinetic strikes on three vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters. Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking.”
Earlier the same day, President Trump signed an executive order designating fentanyl as a Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD). The order expands the federal government’s authority to respond to what it describes as large-scale, organized terror threats tied to drug trafficking.
The directive instructs the Secretary of War and the Secretary of Homeland Security to update military response policies to include the threat posed by illicit fentanyl entering the United States. The move is widely seen as strengthening the administration’s legal justification for using military force against drug cartels operating outside U.S. borders.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are expected to brief lawmakers this week on the strikes. According to WENY News, the briefing will take place Tuesday and will focus on recent operations against suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean.
While the administration says the strikes are necessary to protect the U.S. homeland from narcotics trafficking, some lawmakers from both parties have raised questions about the legal basis for the operations. More than 20 publicly known strikes have reportedly been carried out so far, resulting in over 80 deaths. Additional scrutiny followed reports that U.S. forces conducted follow-up strikes on survivors of an earlier attack in September, prompting concerns from some senators about whether those individuals still posed a threat.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), a member of the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, said last week that video footage of the strikes should be released publicly.
The controversy intensified after some Democratic lawmakers called on U.S. service members to refuse orders from President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, arguing the strikes were unlawful. Those statements sparked backlash from veterans, legal experts, and lawmakers across the political spectrum.
A Nov. 29 Washington Post report cited anonymous sources alleging that Secretary Hegseth ordered troops to eliminate everyone aboard the vessels and authorized secondary strikes against survivors in the water. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) described the operations as “blatantly illegal” and warned that Americans could eventually face prosecution for war crimes or murder.
Secretary Hegseth pushed back strongly against those claims on Friday, calling the reporting “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory.” He stated that the operations are fully lawful under both U.S. and international law.
“Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers throughout the chain of command,” Hegseth said.
Despite the ongoing debate, U.S. military operations against drug-trafficking vessels have continued. As of early December, the United States had carried out at least 22 strikes, resulting in the deaths of nearly 100 designated foreign terrorist narcotics traffickers.
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