US military conducts strikes on THREE more narco-terror boats

The US military struck three more boats that were allegedly smuggling drugs, killing three people while others jumped overboard and may have survived. 

A video posted to social media shows the boats traveling in a close formation, which is unusual, and the military said they were in a convoy along known narco-trafficking routes and 'had transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes.' 

The latest attacks bring the total number of known boat strikes to 33 and the number of people killed to at least 110 since early September, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration. 

The statement by US Southern Command, which oversees South America, did not reveal where the attacks occurred. 

Previous attacks have been in the Caribbean Sea and in the eastern Pacific Ocean. 

The military said three people were killed when the first boat was struck, while people in the other two boats jumped overboard and distanced themselves from the vessels before they were attacked. 

Southern Command said it immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate search and rescue efforts.

The attacks occurred on Tuesday. Southern Command's statement did not say whether those who jumped off the boats were rescued. 

The Pentagon declined The Daily Mail's request for comment. The Daily Mail has reached out to US Southern Command.  

President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted that the US is engaged in an 'armed conflict' with drug cartels.

Trump has previously said that he has authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela.

The mission has primarily focused on military strikes against suspected drug trafficking vessels and has prompted intense oversight from Congress. 

Along with the strikes, the Trump administration has built up military forces in the region as part of an escalating pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has been charged with narco-terrorism in the United States.

Meanwhile, the CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels, according to two people familiar with details of the operation who requested anonymity to discuss the classified matter.

It was the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the US began strikes in September, a significant escalation in the administration’s pressure campaign on Maduro’s government.

Last week, Trump revealed casually in a radio call-in interview that the US began land strikes in Venezuela, signaling an escalation in a campaign that began last fall.  

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The president then confirmed on Monday that on Christmas Eve the US hit 'the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs' along the shore of Venezuela. 

The strikes against boats the Trump administration says are smuggling drugs – though has provided no evidence of such – began on September 2.

On November 6, Erika Palacio Fernández heard a thundering boom recorded from the shore as she saw smoke rising from the horizon in what appears to be the only verified independent video of the aftermath of Trump administration airstrikes, according to the Times.

Two days later, charred wreckage and two bodies washed up on the Guajira Peninsula in Colombia – including what the Times reports were packets with marijuana residue.

Critics of Trump's hawkish attacks on the vessels have already claimed that the administration is engaged in war crimes and questioned the legality of the strikes off the coast of Venezuela and in international waters.

Those voices only got louder after it was revealed the September 2 attack included two separate strikes, the second of which took out two survivors who were hanging onto the wreckage of the destroyed ships.

Now, the revelations that the only wreckage from the drug boats that have washed up on shore contain evidence of weed is fueling critics further.

The White House claims these boats are ferrying illegal drugs to the US at the direction of Maduro and his government. No evidence has been provided to the public to substantiate allegations of Maduro's involvement.

Earlier this month, military leaders briefed lawmakers on an incident in September in which an American strike killed 11 people but left several survivors who were then killed in a second strike ordered by Admiral Frank Bradley. 

Congressional Democrats have questioned whether the second strike was conducted in accordance with international law, and much of the scrutiny has fallen on Hegseth.

International humanitarian law prohibits attacks on incapacitated combatants. 

The Defense Department's Law of War Manual states that shipwrecked persons cannot be knowingly attacked and must receive medical care unless they act with hostility or attempt escape. 

Trump's administration has overseen a massive US military buildup in the Caribbean, including more than 15,000 troops.