War Department launches 15th strike in Trump’s anti-cartel campaign

The US navy has launched one other assault on what it calls a narco-terrorist ship within the Caribbean, Secretary of Battle Pete Hegseth mentioned on Saturday, underscoring a broader marketing campaign towards drug-related militants.

The assault killed three suspected smugglers, Hegseth mentioned, including that the assault was carried out “on the course of President Trump.”

“At the moment the Division of Battle carried out a lethal kinetic assault on one other Designated Terrorist Group (DTO) narco-smuggling vessel within the Caribbean,” Hegseth wrote on X.

He continued: “It was recognized to our intelligence neighborhood that this vessel, like EVERYONE else, was concerned within the unlawful smuggling of narcotics, was transiting a recognized drug trafficking route and was carrying narcotics.”

The US assaults one other suspected drug trafficking boat close to Venezuela, killing 4

U.S. Secretary of Battle Pete Hegseth speaks throughout a joint press convention with Japanese Protection Minister Shinjiro Koizumi in Tokyo on October 29, 2025. (Eugene Hoshiko / POOL / AFP)

“These narco-terrorists are bringing medicine to our shores to poison Individuals at house – they usually will not succeed,” Hegseth added, pledging that the US navy will give them the identical therapy as Al Qaeda: “We are going to proceed to trace them, map them, hunt them and kill them.”

Saturday’s announcement marks the fifteenth recognized U.S. operation towards suspected narcoterror teams within the Caribbean and jap Pacific since September, a part of what Hegseth has referred to as an ongoing “maritime offensive” towards transnational cartels.

Secretary of Battle Pete Hegseth confirms that the US carried out a lethal assault on a suspected narco-terrorist ship within the Caribbean Sea on October 24, 2025. (Ministry of Battle)

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The U.S. navy has now killed at the very least 64 folks in these operations, in keeping with protection officers aware of the marketing campaign.

HEGSETH SAYS THE MILITARY CARRIED OUT ANOTHER ATTACK ON A BOAT CARRYING ALLEGED NARCO-TERRORISTS

President Donald Trump has defended the strikes as a harsh measure to disrupt the move of medicine into america, arguing that cartels have developed into transnational terrorist organizations and that America is engaged in an “armed battle” with them beneath the identical authority as after the September 11, 2001, assaults.

The White Home has resisted calls from lawmakers demanding extra transparency concerning the authorized rationale behind the operations — together with which teams are being focused and the way violence is being approved.

Secretary of Battle Pete Hegseth briefs reporters throughout a press convention. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Pictures)

Senate Democrats renewed their requires solutions on Friday, sending a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Hegseth, urging the administration to make public its authorized justifications and the listing of entities that might be focused beneath the president’s directive.

“We additionally request that you simply present any authorized opinions associated to those strikes, in addition to a listing of the teams or different entities that the President believes could also be focused,” the senators wrote.

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The letter — signed by Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer and a number of other senior Democrats, together with Senators Jack Reed and Jeanne Shaheen — accuses the administration of selectively releasing conflicting info to sure lawmakers whereas protecting others at the hours of darkness.

As well as, the bipartisan management of the Senate Armed Providers Committee launched two beforehand undisclosed letters despatched to Hegseth in late September and early October, pressuring the Pentagon to stipulate its authorized framework for the strikes and determine which cartels the administration has formally designated as terrorist organizations.

The Related Press contributed to this report.