US conducts 15th strike in Caribbean; Pentagon admits victims unknown
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US military strikes a vessel linked to a terrorist group in the Caribbean, killing 3. Lawmakers raise legal concerns over undeclared war on drug smugglers.
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US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends the ASEAN-United States Defense Ministers' High Tea, as part of the ASEAN Defense Ministers' meeting, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025 (AP)
The US military has conducted another lethal strike against alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced.
On Saturday, Hegseth claimed that the vessel was operated by a US-designated terrorist organization, without naming the specific group, and confirmed that three people were killed in the strike, marking the 15th such strike since the US began its bombings back in September.
This strike brings the total number of those killed to 64.
The vessel “was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth claimed in a posting on X.
Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on another narco-trafficking vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO) in the Caribbean.
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) November 2, 2025
This vessel—like EVERY OTHER—was known by our intelligence to be… pic.twitter.com/W7xqeMpSUi
Trump admin keeps Congress in the dark on Caribbean strikes
US lawmakers have repeatedly demanded that the White House release more information on the legal justification for the strikes, provide greater details about which cartels have been targeted, and identify the individuals killed, but the administration has consistently rebuffed them.
Senate Democrats renewed their request for more information about the strikes in a letter dated October 31 to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“We also request that you provide all legal opinions related to these strikes and a list of the groups or other entities the President has deemed targetable,” the letter reads, pointing out that the Trump administration “has selectively shared what has at times been contradictory information” with some members."
Trump admin. admits uncertainty regarding identity of Caribbean targets
The Trump administration has made a series of startling admissions about the people it is killing in its undeclared war against alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, admitting it is uncertain regarding their identities.
In separate briefings provided to lawmakers and staffers on Thursday, Trump officials acknowledged that they do not know the identities of the victims of their strikes and that the War Department cannot meet the evidentiary burden necessary to hold or try survivors of the attacks, according to The Intercept.
Pentagon officials told lawmakers on Thursday that the strikes remain illegal under US and international law, even if Congress authorized them, because the US is not at war with the cartels, a view echoed by Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., who called the policy "murder".
Experts in the laws of war and members of Congress say the strikes are illegal extrajudicial killings because the military is not permitted to deliberately target civilians, even those who are suspected criminals, if they do not pose an imminent threat of violence.
Pentagon admits it does not know identities of all its targets
Jacobs said the Pentagon officials who briefed her admitted that the administration does not know the identities of all the individuals killed in the strikes, explaining that they do not need to positively identify people on the vessels but only need to show a connection to a Drug Trafficking Organization (DTO) or an affiliate.
Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer and a specialist in counterterrorism and the laws of war, told The Intercept that the Trump administration's inability to identify the people it is killing certainly undermines the labeling of those individuals as "narco-terrorists".
Senator Jacbos and other officials suggested to The Intercept that the administration may be withholding information to protect its intelligence sources and methods, with one official conjecturing that the identity of individual targets is considered unimportant unless they are cartel leaders, making it not worth compromising the sensitive human and signals intelligence integral to the US attacks.
The Trump administration has withheld key information about its military strikes, including the legal justification and a list of targeted drug trafficking organizations. Following a secret briefing for only Republican senators, Senator Mark Warner condemned the move as a "partisan stunt" that is "indefensible and dangerous," accusing the administration of reneging on a personal promise from Secretary of State Marco Rubio to provide the legal opinion to all senators.
In response to the outcry, a select group of lawmakers was permitted to view the withheld documents in a restricted setting a day after Warner's public complaint. It remains unclear, however, whether Warner himself was included in this subsequent briefing.
US launches an undeclared war in the Caribbean
The operation began after the administration of Donald Trump deployed warships and other naval assets to the Caribbean region in mid‑August 2025. Experts note this move marked a significant escalation from traditional drug‑interdiction efforts to more overt military engagement in international waters.
In his remarks on September 2, 2025, Trump publicly announced that the first strike had already taken place, stating that a vessel had been destroyed while “loaded up” with narcotics bound for the United States. Prior to that, Trump’s rhetoric had repeatedly portrayed Latin American drug‑trafficking organizations as existential threats to American communities, framing the flow of fentanyl and other illicit substances into the United States as tantamount to an act of aggression.
The first strike occurred on 1 September 2025, when US military forces targeted and destroyed a vessel allegedly tied to the Venezuelan‑based Tren de Aragua organization. Eleven people were killed in the attack, according to the White House release, and Trump posted footage from the operation shortly thereafter.
