Daijiworld Media Network - Washington

Washington, Nov 14: The Pentagon confirmed that the US military carried out yet another lethal maritime strike on Monday, targeting a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea and killing all four people on board. The operation is the latest in a rapidly growing series of naval strikes that have unfolded largely away from public scrutiny.

According to US defence officials, at least 21 vessels have been destroyed in 20 separate strikes since September in international waters, resulting in more than 80 fatalities. The Trump administration maintains that the actions form part of an intensified anti-narcotics campaign, though it has released few operational details.

Amid these developments, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth formally launched Operation Southern Spear, a sweeping new initiative aimed at dismantling what he called “narco-terror networks” and protecting the United States from drug flows. The operation includes the deployment of major naval assets — among them the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford — throughout the Caribbean basin.

Hegseth has hinted that the campaign could expand further, noting that maritime actions have already removed dozens of suspected traffickers from what he called “America’s neighborhood.” President Trump, meanwhile, has been briefed on “updated options” for possible strikes inside Venezuela, though no final decision has been made, according to CBS reports.

The escalation comes as leadership changes loom within the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), the unified command responsible for military operations in Latin America and surrounding waters. Its commander, Admiral Alvin Holsey, is preparing to retire in mid-December — several years earlier than expected. Holsey has reportedly taken a more cautious stance toward the naval strikes than Hegseth prefers, a position that has also drawn the attention of congressional Democrats, who have questioned the legal basis for the operations.

Hegseth defended the mission on social media, writing that Joint Task Force Southern Spear and SOUTHCOM are working to “defend our Homeland, remove narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secure our people from the drugs that are killing them.”

With maritime strikes increasing, a major naval task force mobilised, and the possibility of land operations on the table, Operation Southern Spear marks one of the most aggressive US military postures in the Caribbean in recent decades — and one that is already provoking debate over legality, oversight, and potential escalation.