(The Hill) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday announced there had been another U.S. strike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat days prior.
“On October 17th, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a Designated Terrorist Organization, that was operating in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” Hegseth said in a post on the social platform X.
“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics,” he added.
According to Hegseth, the strike happened in international waters and the three passengers who were on the vessel we