The United States struck three suspected drug-smuggling boats in separate attacks, killing 11 men, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing the Pentagon.
The strikes mark an increase in attacks on small vessels as US warships previously deployed to the Western Hemisphere are being redirected toward the Middle East, the report noted.
According to the Post, since September, the US has focused its military strategy on the seaborne drug trade in the Western Hemisphere, which the Pentagon and White House have identified as a national security threat.
More than a dozen warships, including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, were deployed to the region as part of an operation known as Southern Spear, aimed at surrounding Venezuela and disrupting illicit oil trade.
The operation culminated in the capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
As of Tuesday, the USS Gerald R. Ford and three accompanying destroyers had moved from US Southern Command into Atlantic waters overseen by US European Command, a US official told the Post. Two additional destroyers that had been operating in the Caribbean were also reportedly in the Atlantic.
The Post reported that since September, US forces have struck 43 vessels, killing at least 133 people. Another 11 men who survived initial strikes are presumed dead.
The report noted that the Pentagon revised its protocols regarding survivors following a September 2 strike in which a guided bomb killed nine crew members and left two men clinging to wreckage.
The strike commander, Navy Adm. Frank M. Bradley, reportedly ordered a second attack on the survivors, a decision that some lawmakers and international law experts criticized as a potential war crime.
Protocols were later changed to emphasize rescuing suspected smugglers who survive strikes, though it remains unclear who directed the change and when it was implemented.
Trump calls vessel operators 'narco terrorists'
The Trump administration has described those operating the vessels as “narco terrorists” but has not provided evidence linking them to the cartels it is targeting or identified those killed.
In a statement posted to social media Tuesday, US Southern Command said the three vessels were “operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations” and that intelligence confirmed “the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations.”
One of the strikes took place in the Caribbean, the first announced in that region since November, while the other two occurred in the Eastern Pacific, which officials have described as the most active maritime smuggling corridor, with routes beginning in Colombia and Ecuador, the report noted.
The increase in strikes coincides with a leadership change at US Southern Command. Marine Gen. Francis Donovan assumed command following the departure of Rear Adm. Alvin Holsey, who left the post after about a year, reportedly in part due to disagreements with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the boat strike campaign.