Overview
- U.S. Southern Command said Joint Task Force Southern Spear destroyed a vessel in international waters on Dec. 4, releasing a 21‑second video and saying the boat carried illicit narcotics and was run by a designated terrorist group.
- Officials and media tallies indicate at least 22 strikes since September with more than 86 people killed, with the Dec. 4 attack the first publicly announced strike in nearly three weeks.
- Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley told lawmakers he received no order to “kill them all” in the Sept. 2 operation, though Democrats called the footage deeply troubling and Republicans largely defended the decisions as lawful.
- Briefed lawmakers were told the two Sept. 2 survivors lacked radios or other communications devices, undercutting earlier suggestions they were calling for help to continue the mission, according to accounts relayed to reporters.
- Legal scholars continue to question the administration’s claim of an armed conflict with cartels and warn follow‑on strikes on shipwrecked survivors could violate the law of armed conflict, as calls grow for release of full footage, written orders, and legal memos; President Trump has also signaled plans to consider strikes on land in Venezuela.