US military says it carried out strikes on three vessels in eastern Pacific

The U.S. Southern Command conducted lethal strikes on multiple vessels in international waters targeting suspected drug traffickers, marking a controversial escalation in the Trump administration’s anti-narcotics campaign. These operations, resulting in at least 90 deaths, signal a potential precursor to future U.S. military actions in Venezuela.

Jasper Ward/Reuters

16 December 2025 at 03:43:04

U.S. military strikes kill 8 suspected drug traffickers in international waters, part of broader anti-narcotics campaign in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean.

Reuters

The U.S. Southern Command said on Monday that it carried out strikes on three vessels in international waters, killing eight men.

"Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking," the military said in a post on X.

The United States struck more than 20 vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela as part of a military campaign President Donald Trump has launched on drug smuggling from the region.

At least 90 suspected drug smugglers have been killed in the process.

The use of the military to attack suspected drug vessels marks a stark departure from how the U.S. has historically dealt with them.

The Trump administration has sought to defend the legality of the strikes, which some legal experts have said amount to unlawful extrajudicial killings.

"Our operations in the Southcom region are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the Law of Armed Conflict," Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson told reporters earlier this month.

The strikes are viewed as the precursor to U.S. land strikes on Venezuela that Trump has said will soon start.

-Jasper Ward/Reuters

The U.S. military conducted strikes on suspected drug-trafficking vessels in international waters, killing eight, as part of a broader campaign in the Pacific and Caribbean, raising legal and geopolitical concerns.