Kinetic Attack on Drug Trade

Posted on by

Kinetic attack target #20. Pentagon image.

The US Naval Institute reports,

U.S. forces struck a suspected narco boat in the Caribbean Sea earlier this week, killing four people, USNI News has learned.

The strike, which occurred Monday, killed all four people on board, leaving no survivors, a U.S. defense official confirmed Friday to USNI News. Unlike previous instances, Monday’s fatal strike was not announced by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or other members of the Trump administration on social media platform X.

These kinetic attacks have now become somewhat routine, but since this is a continuing topic of interest for my readers, I will report future attacks in the comments section of this post.

19 thoughts on “Kinetic Attack on Drug Trade”

  4. As someone who likes to take my family on Carnival cruises, I hope our government doesn’t declare Carnival Cruise Lines ships “narco-terrorists,” sink the cruise ships, and kill any survivors clinging to the wreckage. After all, no proof of drug trafficking is needed, just an accusation, and any Congressmen or Senators who dare question the legality of the (blatantly illegal) orders will be investigated for “sedition.”

    Since apparently it’s now legal to commit mass murder as long as you claim the people were “suspected narco-terrorists,” if local cops see a group of teenagers hanging out at the street corner, can they just call them “suspected narco-terrorists” and kill them all, no questions asked? What if a homeowner sees a someone on the sidewalk who looks suspicious to him (like, I dunno, brown skin), can he just call them a “narco-terrorist” and shoot them dead, murder them with impunity? Apparently he now can, according to the U.S. government, and anyone who questions the homeowner’s actions will be investigated by the government for “sedition.” The rule of law and due process in USA have been replaced with vigilante “justice” and extrajudicial execution. Sorry if this is too “political,” but I can not stay silent in the face of mass murder, because as Edmund Burke reputedly said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Sure, for now it’s “only” about 100 people murdered, but you-know-who is attempting to start a war that could kill tens of thousands of people.

    Reply ↓

  5. Do you honestly think the US is about to start bombing Carnival Cruise Lines?

    Hasn’t the US taken out “terrorists” for years now with drones and Hellfires?

    This is not some rubicon that’s just been crossed.

    That line was crossed many years ago.

    Reply ↓

    • I refer you to the latest issue of Proceedings of the U.S. Navail Institute:

      Operation Southern Spear, the U.S. Military, and Lawlessness

      The administration has bypassed critical international law thresholds with potentially devastating precedence for the international order and, more concerning, U.S. domestic law.

      By Captain Matthew C. Dolan, U.S. Navy (Retired)

      ‘…Self-defense in international law is a state’s inherent right to use force to repel an “armed attack,” as recognized by Article 51 of the U.N. Charter. It permits a response to actual attacks and, under limited conditions, anticipatory strikes, if there is an imminent attack. In analyzing the administration’s use of force based on a theory of anticipatory self-defense, international law has relied on the Caroline test as a key principle defining the strict conditions for such action. The analysis is named after the 1837 Caroline affair, when British-Canadian forces attacked a U.S. vessel, the Caroline, in U.S. territory. Applying the Caroline test to the attack on the Venezuelan drug runners would require the threat from these drug runners to be “instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no moment for deliberation.” It sets an extremely high bar, meaning preemptive force is only justifiable when absolutely necessary and with no time for peaceful alternatives.

      ‘It is difficult to argue that drug running in high-speed boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific posed an instant and overwhelming threat that left no choice of means and no moment for deliberation in protecting the United States from illicit drug importation. The vessel in the 2 September attack was allegedly unarmed and had turned around to head back to the Venezuelan coast. The actual destination of the vessel was not in the United States, and the cargo, although allegedly illicit drugs, was not an instant and overwhelming threat to U.S. citizens or U.S. sovereignty. In an initial statement, President Trump said the boat was headed to the United States, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated later on the same day that the drugs were “probably headed to Trinidad or some other country in the Caribbean.”’

      https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2025/december/operation-southern-spear-us-military-and-lawlessness?utm_id=PtW18Dec2025&mc_cid=247d4181bf&mc_eid=168590bf1a

      Reply ↓

      • The strikes on drug boats are worthy of debate but any ascertainion that we will be soon bombing Carnival Cruise Lines is a little bit out there.

  11. Operation Southern Spear, the U.S. Military, and Lawlessness

    “The administration has bypassed critical international law thresholds with potentially devastating precedence for the international order and, more concerning, U.S. domestic law.”

    By Captain Matthew C. Dolan, U.S. Navy (Retired)

    https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2025/december/operation-southern-spear-us-military-and-lawlessness?fbclid=IwY2xjawO1aWFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEev9j32TV3QkAh2GgQauzZpBprp_flIjdnWMpxkOwzziYVrQT5cubT4ESWRuo_aem_1qs_JP6L92YVVVJFRNI64w&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EPDec1625&utm_term=0_adee2c2162-2880007b00-222727989&utm_id=EP16Dec25

    Reply ↓

  13. This includes a video I found interesting in that appears to include an initial miss, then what appears to be several gun projectiles hitting the target or in the water followed by a final larger hit.

    There were probably two or three men on the smuggling vessel.

    https://www.southcom.mil/News/PressReleases/Article/4367008/lethal-kinetic-strike-dec-22-2025/

    Dec. 22, 2025

    Lethal Kinetic Strike, Dec. 22, 2025

    On Dec. 22, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a low-profile vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters.

    Intelligence confirmed the low-profile vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. One male narco-terrorist was confirmed killed during this action.

    No U.S. military forces were harmed.

    Reply ↓

  15. Dec. 29, 2025

    Lethal Kinetic Strike, Dec. 29, 2025

    On Dec. 29, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters. 

    Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations. Two male narco-terrorists were killed. No U.S. military forces were harmed.

    https://www.southcom.mil/News/PressReleases/Article/4368332/lethal-kinetic-strike-dec-29-2025/

    Reply ↓

  16. Dec. 31, 2025

    Lethal Kinetic Strikes, Dec. 30, 2025

    On Dec. 30, at the direction of Secretary of war Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted kinetic strikes against three narco-trafficking vessels traveling as a convoy.

    These vessels were operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters. Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and had transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes.

    Three narco-terrorists aboard the first vessel were killed in the first engagement. The remaining narco-terrorists abandoned the other two vessels, jumping overboard and distancing themselves before follow-on engagements sank their respective vessels.

    Following the engagements, USSOUTHCOM immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system.

    https://www.southcom.mil/News/PressReleases/Article/4369710/lethal-kinetic-strikes-dec-30-2025/

    Reply ↓

  17. Dec. 31, 2025

    Lethal Kinetic Strikes, Dec. 31, 2025

    On Dec. 31, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations.

    Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and engaged in narco-trafficking. A total of five narco-terrorists were killed during these actions – three in the first vessel and two in the second.

    https://www.southcom.mil/News/PressReleases/Article/4369758/lethal-kinetic-strikes-dec-31-2025/

    Reply ↓

Leave a comment