U.S. Military Kills 11 In Strikes On Suspected Drug Boats

The U.S. military said it killed 11 people during overnight strikes on three suspected drug-trafficking vessels operating in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean, according to U.S. Southern Command.

Officials said intelligence showed the boats were moving along known trafficking routes and actively involved in narcotics smuggling.

Southern Command said all those killed were male and described them as narco-terrorists. No U.S. personnel were injured. The latest strikes raise the death toll in the U.S. anti-drug campaign, launched last September under Donald Trump, to at least 135.

Late on Feb. 16, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted three lethal kinetic strikes on three vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations. Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known… pic.twitter.com/mib9XtptSB

— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) February 17, 2026

The Trump administration previously approved a classified legal rationale allowing lethal force against certain cartels by designating them enemy combatants.

Critics, including Democratic lawmakers and legal scholars, argue the strikes bypass due process and lack congressional authorization.

The campaign marks a shift from past enforcement methods, which relied on law enforcement and the Coast Guard to interdict vessels and seize drugs without lethal force.

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