US strikes 2 more boats in the Pacific Ocean, killing 5
By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, CNN
(CNN) — The US military conducted strikes against two alleged drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday, killing 5 people, according to US Southern Command.
At least 104 people have now been killed in US strikes on alleged drug boats, and Thursday’s attack marks the third this week.
“On Dec. 18, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted lethal kinetic strikes on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters,” SOUTHCOM wrote on X, adding that no US service members were harmed in the strikes.
On Monday, the US killed 8 people in strikes on three alleged drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific, and the US killed 4 people in a strike on a single boat on Wednesday.
The strikes on suspected drug boats are part of an ongoing campaign, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, that the Trump administration has said is aimed at curtailing narcotics trafficking.
As part of the campaign, the US has increased its military action in South America in recent months, focused on Venezuela, a nation that President Donald Trump has accused of stealing US “oil, land and other assets.”
The administration has moved thousands of troops and a carrier strike group into the Caribbean, and Trump on Tuesday ordered a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and leaving Venezuela.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro responded to Trump on Wednesday, accusing the US of seeking regime change along with ownership of Venezuela’s territory and resources.
“It is simply a warmongering and colonialist pretense, and we have said so many times, and now everyone sees the truth. The truth has been revealed,” Maduro said in Caracas.
The strikes on alleged drug boats began in September. The US military targeted a vessel in the Pacific for the first time on October 21, after previously only striking boats in the Caribbean.
Congress questions strikes
As lawmakers debate the legality of the US military’s ongoing campaign, the Trump administration has not provided public evidence of the presence of narcotics on the boats struck, nor their affiliation with drug cartels.
Thursday’s attack comes hours after the US House of Representatives rejected a pair of resolutions challenging the Trump administration’s military actions against the alleged drug-trafficking boats and targeting Venezuela.
One resolution sought to direct the president to remove armed forces from “hostilities with presidentially designated terrorist organizations in the Western Hemisphere” absent a declaration of war or congressional authorization. It failed on a 210-216 vote.
The other resolution, which centered around potential US hostilities within or against Venezuela, also failed. Both would have required approval from the Senate to go into force.
Lawmakers in Congress have been seeking more information about the strikes, particularly the first attack on September 2. That attack included a follow-up strike that killed two crew members who initially survived, which Democrats have argued amounts to a war crime.
After privately briefing lawmakers this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters on Capitol Hill that the Pentagon will not release the full video of the September 2 strikes to the public.
The US annual defense policy bill, which Trump signed Thursday, includes a provision that withholds a quarter of Hegseth’s travel budget until unedited videos of those strikes are released to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.
This story has been updated with additional details.
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