President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform Friday evening that he has ordered a third lethal airstrike on a ship traveling in international waters.
"On my Orders, the Secretary of War ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility," wrote Trump. "Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans. The strike killed 3 male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel, which was in international waters. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike."
"STOP SELLING FENTANYL, NARCOTICS, AND ILLEGAL DRUGS IN AMERICA, AND COMMITTING VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM AGAINST AMERICANS!!!" Trump concluded.
The president has previously ordered two similar strikes on ships the administration believes to have been carrying illegal narcotics.
These attacks are a massive departure from international law and standard U.S. policy, which dictates that ships suspected of drug trafficking be interdicted and seized, rather than treated as summary military targets.
A recent report indicated that lawyers within the Pentagon are uneasy and divided over whether these strikes are legal.
