{"id":2523128,"date":"2025-12-19T06:46:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T11:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-announces-two-more-strikes-on-suspected-drug-boats-in-operation-southern-spear\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T06:47:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T11:47:37","slug":"us-announces-two-more-strikes-on-suspected-drug-boats-in-operation-southern-spear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-announces-two-more-strikes-on-suspected-drug-boats-in-operation-southern-spear\/","title":{"rendered":"US announces two more strikes on suspected drug boats in Operation Southern Spear"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fus-announces-two-more-strikes-on-suspected-drug-boats-in-operation-southern-spear%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2523128&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The U.S. military announced two additional strikes on vessels suspected of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pentagon-deploys-stealth-fighter-jets-to-puerto-rico-as-war-on-cartel-narco-terrorists-ramps-up\/\" title=\"Pentagon Deploys Stealth Fighter Jets to Puerto Rico as War on Cartel Narco-Terrorists Ramps Up\">transporting illegal drugs<\/a> in the Pacific Ocean, marking the 27th and 28th boats targeted in Operation Southern Spear. Conducted on december 18 under the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the strikes resulted in the deaths of five suspected drug traffickers. Intelligence confirmed these vessels were operating along known narcotics trafficking routes in international waters.Since the operation began, at least 104 suspected traffickers have been killed. These recent attacks followed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-descend-into-twitter-war-with-amazon\/\" title=\"Democrats Descend into Twitter War With Amazon\">increased congressional scrutiny<\/a> of the operation and were the first strikes conducted since December 4. No U.S. forces were harmed in the incidents.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">US announces two more strikes on suspected drug boats in Operation Southern Spear<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>The U.S. announced two more strikes on vessels suspected of transporting drugs on Thursday.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It marks the 27th and 28th boats targeted by the military, which were believed to have been <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/3918992\/us-strikes-three-suspected-drug-boats-in-eastern-pacific-killing-eight\/\">transporting<\/a> illegal narcotics in the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/pacific-ocean\/\">Pacific Ocean<\/a>. U.S. Southern Command announced the strikes in a post on X on Thursday night. Five more suspected &ldquo;narco-traffickers&rdquo; were killed in the incident.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/3920028\/trump-lower-prices-promise-voter-economic-outlook\/\">Lower prices sound great, but deflation would spur economic headaches<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/3924965\/gop-alternative-obamacare-subsidy-extension-could-cut-health-insurance-prices\/\">GOP alternative to Obamacare subsidy extension could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lower-prices-sound-great-but-deflation-would-spur-economic-headaches\/\" title=\"Lower prices sound great, but deflation would spur economic headaches\">cut health insurance prices<\/a> by 11%<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/3908746\/us-lawmakers-navigate-fraught-dispute-between-ireland-israel\/\">US lawmakers navigate a fraught dispute between Ireland and Israel<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;On Dec. 18, at the direction of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SecWar\">@SecWar<\/a> Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted lethal kinetic strikes on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters,&rdquo; read the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/southcom\/status\/2001840669313135099?s=46\">post<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">On Dec. 18, at the direction of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SecWar<\/a> Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted lethal kinetic strikes on two vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters. Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known&hellip; <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CcCyOgYRto\">pic.twitter.com\/CcCyOgYRto<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Southcom\/status\/2001840669313135099?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 19, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/3919603\/pete-hegseth-gop-clash-refusal-release-venezuelan-boat-strikes-video\/\">HEGSETH AND GOP CLASH OVER REFUSAL TO RELEASE VENEZUELAN BOAT STRIKES VIDEO<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations,&rdquo; Southern Command noted. &ldquo;A total of five male narco-terrorists were killed during these actions &ndash; three in the first vessel and two in the second vessel. No U.S. military forces were harmed.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Thursday&rsquo;s strike on the two boats brings the total number of victims killed in Operation Southern Spear to at least 104 suspected drug traffickers. There have been three attacks this week, all of them occurring in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. They were the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/3925366\/us-26th-strike-drug-vessel\/\">first strikes in Operation Southern Spear since Dec. 4<\/a>, and come as the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >illegal drug trafficking enforced operation<\/a> has encountered increased scrutiny from members of Congress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US hits two more suspected drug boats in Operation Southern Spear<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2677,"featured_media":2523129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-19-at-5.55.03-AM.png?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[64861,56991,67090,50822],"class_list":["post-2523128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-drug-boats","tag-military-strikes","tag-operation-southern-spear","tag-us-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Screenshot-2025-12-19-at-5.55.03-AM.png?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2523128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2523128"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2523128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2523132,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2523128\/revisions\/2523132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2523129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2523128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2523128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2523128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}