Local security conflict

U.S. forces struck two suspected narco boats Sunday in international waters in the Eastern Pacific, killing six people.
The boats were allegedly transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route and are believed to have been carrying illicit narcotics at the time of the strikes, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on social media platform X.
The strikes mark 19 total strikes conducted by the U.S. since early September, when the Trump administration launched a campaign targeting suspected drug traffickers operating in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. The death toll has climbed to 76 killed, of which 75 were killed in the strikes and one person was presumed dead after being lost at sea.
Hegseth’s Monday announcement said the weekend strikes were against unspecified “designated terrorist organizations” and did not include the countries of origin. The announcement did not specify the type of narcotics the boats were allegedly carrying.
The leading cause of overdose deaths in the U.S. is illegally manufactured fentanyl, according to the most recent data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. The majority of the fentanyl originates from China and Mexico, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
The White House told Congress last month that the administration believes drug traffickers are “unlawful combatants” and are valid targets under Title 10.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has questioned the legality of the strikes from the administration.
Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Hegseth told a congressional panel that the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel had signed off on the boat strikes related to 24 different cartels or other criminal organizations, but not on land strikes in Venezuela or other countries, CNN reported.