U.S. forces killed 11 people in strikes on three alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said in a post on X late yesterday, renewing a contentious campaign that has drawn mounting legal scrutiny.
Southern Command said the attacks hit “three vessels being operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” killing four people on each of two boats in the Eastern Pacific and three on a third boat in the Caribbean. No U.S. military personnel were harmed, the command said.
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Video released with the post showed precision strikes on the small craft at sea. Two boats appeared stationary at the moment of impact; a third was moving at speed. People were visible on at least two vessels before the munitions hit.
The military characterized the targets as part of a broader effort against “narco-terrorists” in Latin America, a label U.S. officials have used to justify expanded maritime interdictions. But the command did not provide evidence in the post that the boats were carrying narcotics or otherwise engaged in trafficking at the time of the strikes.
That gap has intensified debate over the legality of the operations. International law experts and human rights groups say previous boat strikes in the region likely amounted to extrajudicial killings because the people on board did not pose an imminent threat to the United States. Critics argue that absent clear, immediate danger or a recognized armed conflict, lethal force at sea risks violating the laws of armed conflict and human rights norms.
Southern Command has increased its maritime footprint in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific in recent months, touting operations against alleged smuggling networks. U.S. forces have previously struck small boats and seized oil tankers as part of what officials describe as efforts to disrupt transnational criminal organizations.
Key details of the latest incident remained unclear from the U.S. military’s account, including the identities of the dead, who controlled the boats, and whether any cargo was recovered. The post on X offered no time-stamped location data beyond the broad regions and did not describe any attempt at warning, boarding or nonlethal interdiction before the strikes.
The video’s release is likely to fuel calls for greater transparency into the rules of engagement guiding these maritime operations and the intelligence thresholds used to authorize lethal force at sea. Rights advocates say public evidence is essential to assess whether U.S. actions conform with international law; supporters of the campaign counter that rapid, forceful interdictions are needed to degrade violent criminal networks that move contraband across vast maritime corridors.
U.S. Southern Command did not immediately release further details beyond the video and casualty figures posted online.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
