A U.S. strike on a boat off the coast of Venezuela on Tuesday killed six suspected drug traffickers, President Donald Trump said, the latest such operation in recent weeks as the U.S. builds up military forces in the region.
The strike is the most recent example of Trump's efforts to use U.S. military power in new, and often legally contentious, ways, from deploying active-duty U.S. troops in Los Angeles to carrying out counter-terrorism strikes against drug trafficking suspects.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the strike had been carried out against a designated terrorist organization, but he did not provide any details on which group.
"Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks," Trump said, without providing evidence.
A roughly 30-second video, which Trump posted, appeared to show a stationary vessel in a body of water being hit with a projectile before exploding.
The Pentagon recently disclosed to Congress that Trump has determined the United States is engaged in "a non-international armed conflict" with drug cartels.
Some former military lawyers say the legal explanations given by the Trump administration for killing suspected drug traffickers at sea instead of apprehending them fail to satisfy requirements under the law of war.
A large U.S. military buildup is taking place in the southern Caribbean. In addition to F-35 aircraft in Puerto Rico, there are eight U.S. warships in the region, carrying thousands of sailors and marines, and one nuclear-powered submarine.
The Trump administration has provided scant information on the previous strikes, including the identities of those killed or details about the cargo.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly alleged that the U.S. is hoping to drive him from power. Washington in August doubled its reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest to $50 million, accusing him of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups that Maduro denies.
The insolvency-related fraud trial of fallen Austrian property tycoon Rene Benko entered its second day on Wednesday, with a ruling expected in the af...
President Ilham Aliyev has described urban planning as a "priority direction" in Azerbaijan’s national development strategy, in an address to an int...
Hungary would suffer if it was cut off from Russian energy, Budapest's foreign minister said during a visit to Moscow on Wednesday, reiterating that t...
Brussels is facing one of its toughest political tests yet. The Patriots for Europe, now the third-largest bloc in the European Parliament, have filed...
Toxic gas and a locked door that barred access to a roof were responsible for most of the deaths in a devastating fire in a Bangladesh garment factory...
President Ilham Aliyev has described urban planning as a "priority direction" in Azerbaijan’s national development strategy, in an address to an international forum which opened in the city of Khankendi on Wednesday.
The insolvency-related fraud trial of fallen Austrian property tycoon Rene Benko entered its second day on Wednesday, with a ruling expected in the afternoon in the first case connected to the collapse of his Signa property empire.
Hungary would suffer if it was cut off from Russian energy, Budapest's foreign minister said during a visit to Moscow on Wednesday, reiterating that the country would not accept outside pressure when it came to decisions on its energy supplies.
Madagascar is facing its most severe political crisis in over a decade as President Andry Rajoelina has reportedly fled the country following weeks of protests over water shortages, blackouts, and corruption.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
A tsunami threat was issued in Chile after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the Drake Passage on Friday. The epicenter was located 135 miles south of Puerto Williams on the north coast of Navarino Island.
The war in Ukraine has reached a strategic impasse, and it seems that the conflict will not be solved by military means. This creates a path toward one of two alternatives: either a “frozen” phase that can last indefinitely or a quest for a durable political regulation.
The insolvency-related fraud trial of fallen Austrian property tycoon Rene Benko entered its second day on Wednesday, with a ruling expected in the afternoon in the first case connected to the collapse of his Signa property empire.
Hungary would suffer if it was cut off from Russian energy, Budapest's foreign minister said during a visit to Moscow on Wednesday, reiterating that the country would not accept outside pressure when it came to decisions on its energy supplies.
Brussels is facing one of its toughest political tests yet. The Patriots for Europe, now the third-largest bloc in the European Parliament, have filed a formal motion of no-confidence against Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission.
Toxic gas and a locked door that barred access to a roof were responsible for most of the deaths in a devastating fire in a Bangladesh garment factory and an adjoining chemical warehouse, a fire official said on Wednesday.
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