Trump says US struck alleged drug vessel in latest operation

The latest strike - at least the third against alleged drug vessels - comes amid a large U.S. military buildup in the southern Caribbean. Five F-35 aircraft were seen landing in Puerto Rico on Saturday after the Trump administration ordered 10 of the stealth fighters to join the buildup.

In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump said the Pentagon carried out the strike on his orders, killing "3 male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel."

"Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans."

U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) is the U.S. military's combatant command that encompasses 31 countries through South and Central America and the Caribbean.

Trump did not provide evidence but did post a minute-long aerial video that showed two side-by-side videos of a vessel, one in color and one in black and white, as it moved through the water. About halfway through, the vessel appears to be struck by at least one projectile and then explodes. The video ends with a single aerial angle of the vessel on fire in the water.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly alleged the U.S. is hoping to drive him from power. Washington last month doubled its reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest to $50 million, accusing him of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups, which Maduro denies.

Earlier this month, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told sailors and Marines on a warship off Puerto Rico that they were not deployed to the Caribbean for training, but instead had been sent to the "front lines" of a critical counter-narcotics mission.

The decision to blow up a suspected drug vessel instead of seizing it and apprehending the crew is highly unusual.

Under the U.S. Constitution, the power to declare war belongs to Congress, but the president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and presidents of both parties have conducted military strikes overseas without congressional approval.

Experts and human rights advocates have questioned the legality of the strikes.

Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch said the strikes against the alleged drug boats were "unlawful extrajudicial killings."

"U.S. officials cannot summarily kill people they accuse of smuggling drugs," Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

"The problem of narcotics entering the United States is not an armed conflict, and U.S. officials cannot circumvent their human rights obligations by pretending otherwise," Yager said.