WASHINGTON, Oct 15, (AP): The United States struck another small boat accused of carrying drugs in the waters off Venezuela, killing six people, President Donald Trump said Tuesday. Those who died in the strike were aboard the vessel, and no US forces were harmed, the president said in a social media post. It’s the fifth deadly strike in the Caribbean as Trump's administration has asserted it's treating alleged drug traffickers as unlawful combatants who must be met with military force.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the strike Tuesday morning, said Trump, who released a video of it as he has in the past. Hegseth later shared the video in a post on X. The black-and-white video showed a small boat that appeared stationary on the water. Seconds into the video, it is struck by a projectile from overhead and explodes.

The boat is then seen floating aflame for several seconds. Trump said the strike was conducted in international waters and "intelligence” confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with "narcoterrorist networks” and was on a known drug trafficking route. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking more information on the latest boat strike, but one defense official confirmed that the details in the social media post were accurate.

The official was not authorized to speak publicly on the strike and spoke on condition of anonymity. James Story, former U.S. ambassador for the Venezuela Affairs Unit from 2018 to 2023, served under Trump’s first term and under President Joe Biden. He told The Associated Press that ongoing American strikes on boats in the Caribbean may ultimately hinder counternarcotics efforts.

By ruffling the feathers of longtime American allies in the region like Colombia, Story said, the strikes likely "hurt our ability to gather intelligence” from allies to crack down on drug trafficking organizations. "If they believe that the intelligence they provide us will result in what some could describe as an extrajudicial killing, and nobody here is sympathetic to the plight of drug traffickers ... that puts us in a pretty bad spot,” Story said. ”It puts us in contravention with international law and it undermines our ability to work in the hemisphere.”

Meanwhile, frustration with the Trump administration has been growing on Capitol Hill among members of both major political parties. Some Republicans are seeking more information from the White House on the legal justification and details of the strikes. Democrats contend the strikes violate U.S. and international law.