US Carries Out New Strikes on Alleged Drug Boats, Killing 8

The United States on Monday carried out airstrikes on three boats allegedly involved in narcotics trafficking, killing eight people aboard the vessels. “On Dec. 15, at the direction of [Secretary of War] Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted lethal kinetic strikes on three vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters,” U.S. Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, wrote in a post on X announcing the airstrikes. Specifically, the military said the action was carried out in the Eastern Pacific. U.S. Southern Command said that intelligence “confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes … and were engaged in narco-trafficking.”...