The United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) revealed on Wednesday two different military operations against drug-trafficking vessels between December 30-31 killed eight narco-terrorists.
Both strikes were part of Operation Southern Spear.
SOUTHCOM separately published the respective unclassified footage of the two latest operations throughout Wednesday — detailing in both instances that said operations were carried out at the direction of U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
First, on Wednesday afternoon, SOUTHCOM detailed that on December 30, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted “kinetic strikes” against three drug-trafficking vessels “travelling as a convoy” along known narco-trafficking routes in international waters and had transferred narcotics between the three vessels prior to the strikes. The vessels were operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations.
“Three narco-terrorists aboard the first vessel were killed in the first engagement. The remaining narco-terrorists abandoned the other two vessels, jumping overboard and distancing themselves before follow-on engagements sank their respective vessels,” SOUTHCOM explained.
Following the engagements, SOUTHCOM further explained, it immediately notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system, without disclosing further details.
“On Dec. 30th, the U.S. Coast Guard was notified by the Department of War of mariners in distress in the Pacific Ocean. The U.S. Coast Guard is conducting search and rescue operations. Updates will be provided when available,” the U.S. Coast Guard announced through a social media post.
On Wednesday evening, hours after the first announcement, SOUTHCOM published footage of a December 31 “lethal kinetic strike” on two other vessels operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and engaged in narco-trafficking. A total of five narco-terrorists were killed during these actions – three in the first vessel and two in the second,” SOUTHCOM detailed.
The two operations announced by SOUTHCOM over the past hours reportedly brings the total of known narco-trafficking vessels struck in international waters to 35 since the start of the operations in September, with at least 115 known narco-terrorists killed so far.
The strikes are part of Operation Southern Spear, a U.S. Department of War mission against transnational maritime drug trafficking networks part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to curb the flow of deadly drugs entering the United States.
The two strikes mark the third of its known disclosed by SOUTHCOM this week alone. On Monday, SOUTHCOM revealed that two narco-terrorists were killed by a “lethal kinetic strike” against a drug-trafficking vessel in international waters.
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Throughout December 2025, SOUTHCOM published unclassified footage of four different military operations carried out against narco-terrorists in Caribbean and Eastern Pacific waters on December 15, 17, 18, and December 22.
At press time, no U.S. military forces are known to have been harmed since the start of the military strikes against narco-terrorists in international waters in September.
