The United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) on Thursday night revealed it carried out new kinetic strikes against two drug-trafficking vessels as part of Operation Southern Spear. Five more narco-terrorists were eliminated as a result.
SOUTHCOM’s late Thursday night announcement against drug traffickers marks the third of its kind this week. As with all previous strikes, SOUTHCOM shared footage of the December 18 operation and informed that it was carried out at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
The two struck vessels, SOUTHCOM detailed, were operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations.
“Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” SOUTHCOM informed.
“A total of five male narco-terrorists were killed during these actions – three in the first vessel and two in the second vessel. No U.S. military forces were harmed,” the statement concluded.
The strike against the two drug-trafficking vessels is the third carried out this week as part of Operation Southern Spear. On Wednesday, SOUTHCOM informed that it had carried out a “lethal kinetic strike” on a drug-ladden boat, killing the four men on board. On Monday, military strikes against three other drug-trafficking vessels killed eight drug-traffickers. Prior to this week’s series of back-to-back strikes, an additional four drug traffickers were killed on December 4 in international Eastern Pacific waters after SOUTHCOM struck their drug-trafficking vessel.
Thursday’s latest publicly known strike reportedly brings the drug traffickers’ death toll up to 104 since the start of the ongoing military operations against drug cartels operating in Caribbean and Eastern Pacific waters in September.
Operation Southern Spear, an initiative targeting drug-trafficking maritime vessels for destruction, is part of President Donald Trump and his administration’s ongoing efforts to curb the flow of deadly drugs entering the United States.
As part of the ongoing efforts, U.S. friendly Latin American nations have pledged to support the United States in the fight against drug traffickers.
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This week, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced that his country will temporarily host U.S. Air Force members at the port city of Manta for a joint operation against narco-terrorism. Ecuador’s entire western flank lies on the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
In November, two separate joint U.S.-Dominican Republic drug bust operations successfully seized nearly 1,300 packs of presumptive cocaine. Both vessels were captured several nautical miles south of the Dominican Republic’s Isla Beata.
The Dominican National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD) disclosed at the time that the operation — part of Operation Southern Spear — was a success thanks to the joint efforts of the directorate, the nation’s Army and Air Force, and the United States’ Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF) South) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
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