JTF Southern Spear killed eight across three suspected narcotics vessels in eastern Pacific; 23rd-25th strikes, ~95 campaign deaths

On December 15, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out lethal strikes on three vessels in international waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean — the 23rd announced operation in Operation Southern Spear, which began in September 2025. U.S. Southern Command reported that the strikes killed three people on the first boat, two on the second, and three on the third, for a total of eight killed. The command stated the vessels were operated by "designated terrorist organizations" transiting known narco-trafficking routes but identified no individuals, released no evidence that the boats were carrying narcotics, and reported no attempt at interdiction or arrest before the strikes. The reported cumulative death toll for the campaign reached approximately 95 with this operation.

ABC News and Military.com independently confirmed the triple strike and its eight-person toll, attributing the operations to SOUTHCOM under the direction of Hegseth. Military.com noted that public reporting confirmed the strikes occurred but did not establish that the boats were carrying drugs or weapons at the time of the attacks, and reported that the Associated Press documented the incident based solely on official military statements. USNI News, which covers the campaign extensively, reported the strikes on December 16; its article returned a WAF 403 on automated check but is corroborated by the two verified secondaries.

This entry is recorded as part of the southcom-drug-boat-strikes episode — the sustained, congressionally unauthorized use of lethal military force against individuals accused of drug trafficking, with no judicial process and no attempt at arrest. The December 15 triple strike (extrajudicial actions) reflects the redirection of uniformed forces to a counter-narcotics mission framed as armed conflict (politicization of uniformed services). The corrected second abuse replaces the issue's mapping of executive-overreach; the redirection of uniformed forces and the framing of counter-narcotics killing as armed conflict is more precisely captured by politicization-of-uniformed-services, consistent with other entries in this campaign.