104 Deaths: U.S. Navy Strikes Alleged "Narco-Boats" Amid Growing Legal Conflict

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On Thursday, December 18, 2025, the U.S. military killed five more alleged drug traffickers in the Eastern Pacific, pushing the death toll of the Trump administration’s controversial maritime strike campaign to 104 people. The operation, conducted by Joint Task Force Southern Spear under the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, involved lethal kinetic strikes against two vessels transiting international waters. U.S. Southern Command characterized the targets as "narco-terrorists," though the administration has faced mounting criticism for failing to provide public evidence that the targeted boats were carrying illicit drugs.

The campaign, which began in September, has sparked a fierce legal debate over whether these strikes constitute extrajudicial killings or legitimate acts of war. A September incident, where survivors of an initial strike were allegedly killed in a follow-up attack, has led to accusations of potential war crimes. Despite these concerns, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly rejected two Democratic-backed resolutions on Wednesday that sought to curb the strikes and require congressional authorization for hostilities against Venezuela or designated cartels. While the administration argues it is engaged in a "non-international armed conflict" with cartels, many lawmakers remain skeptical, viewing the operations as an unauthorised expansion of executive military power.