US forces targeted 4 more vessels in the eastern Pacific accused of drug trafficking, killing 14 with 1 survivor.

The latest attacks bring the extrajudicial campaign’s total to at least 13 vessels struck and an acknowledged death toll of 51 people since the operation began in early September. Hegseth said the strikes took place in international waters.

Hegseth defended the actions by comparing the alleged traffickers to al-Qaeda and saying, “These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than Al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same. We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them.” Legal experts have widely disputed that justification, and Republican Senator Rand Paul criticized the unilateral strikes, warning they may be a “prelude to war” and saying there has been no public evidence presented of crimes or that those targeted were armed.

US officials appear poised to widen the campaign from sea to shore after the Pentagon sent the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford and its strike group to the Caribbean, a deployment expected to place the carrier off Venezuela by roughly the end of the week. Sending the carrier is the clearest sign yet that the administration intends to expand lethal operations from small boats to possible land-based targets.

The Cradle Media