The United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced on Monday evening the U.S. military carried out a new “lethal kinetic strike” as part of Operation Southern Spear against a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters, killing two narco-terrorists.
SOUTHCOM shared a 22-second long unclassified footage of the strike, and explained that the operation was carried out at the direction of U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
“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,” SOUTHCOM wrote.
Monday’s strike reportedly marks the 30th of its kind against drug trafficking vessels operating in international waters since September, and is part of Operation Southern Spear, a U.S. Department of War mission against transnational maritime drug trafficking networks. At least 106 drug traffickers have been killed in such military operations — none of which has seen U.S. military forces being harmed.
The ongoing military operations, and the U.S. military deployment in Caribbean international waters as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to curb the flow of drugs entering the United States. In contrast, Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro — actively wanted by U.S. authorities on multiple narco-terrorism charges — has repeatedly claimed that the United States’ drug-fighting efforts are part of a purported plan to “invade” Venezuela and impose a regime change in the country.
RELATED: More Drugs Destroyed! U.S. Southern Command Posts Video of Another Drug Boat’s Destruction
On Friday, President Donald Trump revealed during an interview with WABC that U.S. forces “knocked out” a “big facility” in Venezuela, but did not disclose specifics.
“I don’t know if you read or you saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where they send the — where the ships come from. Two nights ago we knocked that out — so we hit them very hard,” President Trump told John Catsimatidis.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, President Trump reiterated that the United States “hit” an area in Venezuela used to load boats with drugs.
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs. So we hit all the boats, and now we hit the area,” President Trump said.
Neither Maduro, nor any member of his authoritarian regime have publicly commented on President Trump’s announcement at press time. Similarly, Venezuelan state-media and what few remaining independent outlets remain active in the country in light of the Maduro regime’s censorship of free press in Venezuela have not reported on the strike at press time.
In contrast, the left-wing propaganda network Telesur, largely funded by the Maduro regime, reported on Monday that Maduro claimed during an official event alongside members of the nation’s military that “Venezuela has an exemplary and unique model in South America for combating crime, criminal gangs, and drug trafficking by air, land, and sea.”
Read the full article here