U.S. Military forces launched attacks on four vessels operated by narco-terrorist smugglers transiting through a known trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. According to the Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the kinetic strikes occurred on Monday and resulted in a total of 14 terrorists killed. One person survived the attacks.
In a social media post on X, Secretary Hegseth indicated that the kinetic strikes on the four vessels involved three separate strikes carried out at the direction of President Donald Trump. In the Tuesday morning post, Hegseth wrote, “Eight male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessels during the first strike. Four male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the second strike. Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the third strike. A total of 14 narco-terrorists were killed during the three strikes, with one survivor. All strikes were in international waters with no U.S. forces harmed.”
According to Hegseth, U.S. military forces assigned to USSOUTHCOM immediately conducted a search and rescue operation following standard protocols to locate the single survivor. The search and rescue mission was later turned over to Mexican military authorities, according to the Secretary of War.
As customary, Hegseth provided video footage within the post showing the three separate military strikes on the being destroyed by U.S. military aircraft ordnance. A portion of the video clip shows two vessels side by side being attacked in one separate action. Another portion of the video shows a heavily laden vessel travelling at high speed before it was struck and destroyed.
Hegseth offered additional commentary on the strikes, saying, “The Department has spent over TWO DECADES defending other homelands. Now, we’re defending our own. 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.”
Secretary Hegseth did not provide a precise location of the strikes but a social media post by the Mexican Navy (SEMAR) in Spanish indicated their search for the sole survivor of one of the strikes had begun after a request from the United States Coast Guard. The site of the initial response by Mexican naval forces was described as roughly 400 miles southeast of Acapulco. The search, according to SEMAR is ongoing and involves maritime patrol boats and air assets.
The latest strikes on narco-smuggling vessels by U.S. military forces brings the total of military attacks on the vessels to 14 since President Trump’s military campaign against the narco-terrorist smugglers began in early September. The latest strikes comes just one week after the first strike in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of Colombia. As reported by Breitbart Texas, that strike signaled a broadening of the campaign that had up until then been limited to the Caribbean Sea.
Thus far, an estimated 57 narco-terrorist smugglers have been killed in the U.S. military actions targeting their vessels at sea in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Shortly after taking office, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Designating Cartels and Other Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.” The order resulted in the State Department under Secretary of State Marco Rubio designating the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, the Salvadoran Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang and the Cártel de Sinaloa, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Cártel del Noreste (CDN), La Nueva Familia Michoacana, the Gulf Cartel, and Cárteles Unidos as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
