Oct. 19 (UPI) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Sunday that the United States conducted a strike against a seventh boat Friday as the Trump administration ramps up its war on alleged drug smuggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hegseth said in a statement<\/a> on social media that the strike was conducted at the direction of the president on a vessel allegedly affiliated with Ej\u00e9rcito de Liberaci\u00f3n Nacional, a militant political group in Colombia that has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics,” Hegseth said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “There were three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike — which was conducted in international waters. All three terrorists were killed, and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hegseth shared video of the strike, which showed the boat getting hit and erupting into smoke and flame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the three latest deaths, the U.S. has killed at least 32 people in strikes on alleged drug boats — mostly against vessels off the coast of Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The strikes have raised concerns of escalating conflict leading to war with Venezuela, according to reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Trump administration has been increasing the presence of U.S. troops in the Caribbean as he considers military action inside Venezuela, while Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro<\/a> has started to mobilize volunteer militias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We are certainly looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” Trump told reporters Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine<\/a>, D-Va., filed a bipartisan bill<\/a> Friday that aims to prevent the Trump administration from entering a full-throated war with Venezuela. Critics of the Trump administration’s actions have expressed that only Congress can declare war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “They had a very hard time explaining to us … the legal rationale for doing this and the constitutionality of doing it,” Sen. Mark Kelly<\/a>, D-Ariz., said Sunday<\/a> on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The brief we got had a tremendous number of holes in it, and they had to go round and around to give us the legal rationale for doing this.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n