US strikes vessel off Venezuela coast, six killed in drug operation

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that U.S. forces carried out a strike on a small vessel off the coast of Venezuela, killing six people, in what the White House said was an operation against drug trafficking in international waters. The president posted a 33 second video of the strike on his social media account and said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the lethal kinetic strike. "No U.S. Forces were harmed," he added.

The administration described the targeted vessel as affiliated with a designated terrorist organization and said intelligence showed it was trafficking narcotics along a known smuggling route. Officials released the video as part of a series of public statements in which the administration has framed recent maritime operations in the Caribbean as actions against illicit narcoterrorist networks. In a memo to Congress, the administration said it has determined the United States is engaged in a noninternational armed conflict with certain designated terrorist groups and that the president directed military operations under the law of armed conflict.

The announcement marks the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean in recent weeks. The administration has...