STUNNING footage shows US forces bombing another “narco boat” filled with drugs – killing four people off the coast of Venezuela.
It comes as President Donald Trump waged war by declaring the US is in a “non-international armed conflict” with the Latin American “terrorist organisations”.
Dramatic footage showed a small boat rocking around in choppy waters before it was targeted by a US missile.
A huge explosion then erupted, leaving the vessel up in flames.
Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth shared the clip on X as he sent a direct warning to any drug traffickers.
He wrote: “On President Trump’s orders, I directed a lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organisations in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility.
“Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike, and no U.S. forces were harmed in the operation.
“The strike was conducted in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics – headed to America to poison our people.”
Tensions are skyrocketing between the US and Venezuela, with an “unprecedented” battle escalating between Trump and Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
The US argues that drug traffickers kill tens of thousands of Americans each year and that Venezuela’s criminal networks – including the notorious Tren de Aragua and the regime-linked Cartel de los Soles – act with state protection.
Trump has personally accused Maduro of “mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror,” slapped a $50 million bounty on his head, and ordered US Southern Command to “take the fight to the narco-terrorists.”
Maduro, who has clung to power for over 12 years through his “transparent elections”, calls it a pretext for regime change.
He claims 2.5million troops are mobilised to resist “threats of bombs, death, and blackmail” and says the US wants Venezuela’s oil.
The American military is now preparing to seize ports and airfields in Venezuela after Trump declared a full-scale war on drug cartels.
The move, revealed in a secret memo to Congress, gives Trump sweeping wartime powers to strike, kill and detain cartel fighters without trial.
And it comes as the Pentagon quietly builds a force big enough to grab and hold territory on Venezuelan soil.
Trump’s war on drugs
By Harvey Geh, Foreign News Reporter
DONALD Trump has launched his full-scale war on drugs – favouring missiles over law enforcement.
The first day of Trump’s second term kicked off with the designation of narcotraffickers as terrorists – giving him the right to kill them before they can reach American shores.
This is the argument he has used in the face of law experts warning that his decision to strike a suspected drug-smuggling boat on Tuesday was illegal.
Washington-watchers claim that the gangsters should have been arrested – but the White House says that law enforcement is ineffective.
Trump vowed after the blitz: “There’s more where that came from.”
The US President has long spoken of his desire to enact force to take on drug cartels, which he accuses Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of actively backing.
Maduro has denied the allegations, and the last few months have seen teetering escalations deteriorate into a tense standoff.
The US has positioned naval destroyers and soldiers around Maduro’s waters, while the Venezuelan dictator has ordered mass mobilisation of troops.
US planners now have enough firepower positioned to seize key ports and airfields if ordered, according to the Washington Examiner.
Off Venezuela’s coast sits a formidable armada: Navy warships and a submarine, ten F-35 Lightning II stealth jets, and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit — 2,200 Marines with Harrier jump jets, helicopters and armour.
Last month, US forces carried out three lethal strikes on suspected narco-trafficking boats.
At least 17 people were killed, including 11 on September 2 and three more in a fiery September 15 blast.
Donald Trump signed an executive order that labelled drug cartels as terrorist organisations[/caption]
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced he is mobilising his nation’s military to defend his country[/caption]
