The Pentagon conducted its 20th strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat earlier this week, a Defense Department official said Thursday. “The strike occurred in the Caribbean and four narco-terrorists were killed, no survivors,” the official confirmed in a statement to CNN. Trump administration officials have acknowledged they do not necessarily know the identities of the individuals aboard the vessels before they are targeted. The strike occurred on Monday, the official said. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously announced two Sunday strikes, the 18th and 19th conducted by the US military, on two vessels each with three people aboard. Hegseth said in a post on X the following day that those strikes killed all six. The 20th strike was first reported by CBS News. US Southern Command on Friday released video of the 20th strike, writing in a post on X, “On Nov. 10, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization.” The attack brings the total number of people killed by the US military’s strikes on the alleged drug boats to 80. CNN has reported that the military is using a variety of fighter jets, drones, and gunships to carry out the strikes in the campaign officials say is meant to disrupt the flow of drugs into the US. The Justice Department has told Congress the administration does not need its approval to carry out the strikes, which some experts have said could violate US and international law. The ongoing campaign has also begun to surface tensions with allies; the United Kingdom has stopped sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels to avoid being complicit in the strikes, CNN reported this week, which the UK believes are illegal. The president of Colombia also said this week that he had ordered his country to suspend intelligence sharing with the US until the attacks stop. This story has been updated with additional details.

The U.S. military on Wednesday killed another four people accused by the Trump administration of trafficking narcotics by sea, Pentagon officials said, in a strike that brings the known death toll in the administration’s lethal campaign to 80 since early September. The officials said that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was waiting for video of the strike — the 20th known strike since President Trump authorized military action against drug cartels — before announcing it on social media. There were no survivors, a Defense Department official said on condition of anonymity because the attack had not yet been announced. Wednesday’s strike came a day after the Navy’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, arrived in the Caribbean after a deployment in Europe. The Ford added to the capability of the United States to strike boats thought to be carrying drugs or to hit targets on land in Venezuela, as the Trump administration weighs further military steps aimed at ousting the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. The 20th strike, first reported by CBS, took place in the Caribbean Sea, a Defense Department official said. The official said that an announcement was expected soon. Most of the strikes have hit boats in the Caribbean, though more recently they have expanded to targets in the Pacific Ocean. The arrival of the Ford and three missile-firing Navy destroyers adds about 5,500 military personnel to a force of 10,000 troops already in the region, roughly half ashore in Puerto Rico and half aboard eight warships. With more than 15,000 military personnel, the U.S. buildup is the largest in the region in decades. Trump administration officials have provided little evidence for their claims that the people killed on the boats were smuggling narcotics. The officials say the boats have been in international waters. A wide range of specialists in laws governing the use of force have denounced the killings as illegal because the U.S. military is not allowed to intentionally target civilians who pose no threat of imminent violence, even those suspected of being criminals. The administration maintains the strikes are lawful because President Trump has “determined” that the United States is in a formal armed conflict with drug cartels. American allies have also challenged the administration’s narrative and rationale. Britain has stopped sharing intelligence with the United States about possible drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in the U.S. military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal, according to a senior Western official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic and intelligence matters. Britain’s decision marks a significant disagreement with one of America’s closest allies and underscores the breadth of skepticism surrounding the administration’s legal rationale for the strikes. For decades, Britain, which controls several territories in the Caribbean, has provided intelligence to the United States to help identify vessels that might be carrying drugs. U.S. Coast Guard crews could then act on that information to stop the vessels, board them, seize any drugs and detain the crews. But soon after the first U.S. strikes in early September, Britain suspended the flow of intelligence to the Pentagon’s Joint Interagency Task Force South, stationed in Key West, Fla. The task force includes representatives from several nations and works to reduce the illicit drug trade, the senior Western official said.

On Nov. 10, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization. Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics. 4 male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed. The vessel was trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea and was struck in international waters. #OPSOUTHERNGUARD @SecWar

The U.S. military conducted another strike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat on Monday, a Pentagon official confirmed to CBS News. The attack targeted a vessel in the Caribbean Sea and killed four people on board. Since September, U.S. forces have destroyed at least 21 vessels in 20 strikes in international waters, killing at least 80 people. The Trump administration says the operations — the details of which remain sparse — are part of an anti-drug offensive. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has dubbed the wider anti-trafficking effort "Operation Southern Spear." On Friday, U.S. Southern Command posted a short video of the strike and said the vessel was "operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization." "Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics. 4 male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed," the post said. Hegseth has said previous attacks also targeted "narco-terrorists" on known drug trafficking routes, although U.S. officials have not provided specific evidence that the vessels were smuggling drugs or posed a threat to the United States. Some experts say the strikes, which have taken place in both the Pacific and Caribbean, may violate international law even if they target known drug traffickers. U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk this week urged an investigation into the legality of the strikes, warning of "strong indications" of "extrajudicial killings." The latest strike comes amid an increasing U.S. military buildup in the region. This week, the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford and other warships had entered the Southern Command's area of responsibility, which includes the Caribbean. The USS Ford is the largest aircraft carrier in the world, and the U.S. Navy's most advanced. Senior military officials on Wednesday presented President Trump with updated options for potential operations in Venezuela, including strikes on land, according to multiple sources familiar with the meetings at the White House. No final decision has been made, however, two of the sources told CBS News. Meanwhile, Venezuela announced Tuesday that it was launching a massive military exercise across the country, reportedly involving some 200,000 forces. Many people both inside Venezuela, including President Nicolas Maduro himself, and observers outside the country believe the increased U.S. military pressure is aimed at forcing Maduro out of office. When asked in a recent interview with "60 Minutes" if Maduro's "days were numbered," Mr. Trump responded, "I would say yeah. I think so, yeah." Mr. Trump has repeatedly accused Maduro of being complicit with armed criminal gangs that smuggle drugs into the U.S. — accusations the Venezuelan leader has rejected. Meanwhile, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday ordered his country to stop sharing intelligence with the U.S. He said the directive would "remain in force as long as the missile attacks on boats in the Caribbean continue." This story has been updated to reflect that a Pentagon official later told CBS News the strike took place on Monday, not Tuesday.