WEST PALM BEACH: The US military has carried out another lethal strike on alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Saturday.
Hegseth in a social media posting said the vessel was operated by a US-designated terrorist organization but did not name which group was targeted. He said three people were killed in the strike.
It’s at least the 15th such strike carried out by the US military in the Caribbean or eastern Pacific since early September.
“This vessel— like EVERY OTHER— was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth said in a posting on X.
The US military has now killed at least 64 people in the strikes.
Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. He has asserted the US is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The strikes come as the Trump administration has deployed an unusually large force of warships in the region.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has decried the military operations, as well as the US military buildup, as a thinly veiled effort by the US administration aimed at ousting him from power.
The Trump administration has yet to show evidence to support its claims about the boats that have been attacked, their connection to drug cartels, or even the identity of the people killed in the strikes.
US carries out new strike in Caribbean, killing 3 alleged drug smugglers
https://arab.news/zptxp
US carries out new strike in Caribbean, killing 3 alleged drug smugglers
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the latest strike in a social media posting late Saturday
- He said the vessel was operated by a US-designated terrorist organization but did not name which group was targeted
Blair dropped from Gaza ‘peace board’ after Arab objections
- Former UK PM was viewed with hostility over role in Iraq War
- He reportedly met Netanyahu late last month to discuss plans
LONDON: Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has been withdrawn from the US-led Gaza “peace council” following objections by Arab and Muslim countries, The Guardian reported.
US President Donald Trump has said he would chair the council. Blair was long floated for a prominent role in the administration, but has now been quietly dropped, according to the Financial Times.
Blair had been lobbying for a position in the postwar council and oversaw a plan for Gaza from his Tony Blair Institute for Global Change that involved Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
Supporters of the former British leader cited his role in the Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of conflict and violence in Northern Ireland.
His detractors, however, highlighted his former position as representative of the Middle East Quartet, made up of the UN, EU, Russia and US, which aimed to bring about peace in the Middle East.
Furthermore, Blair’s involvement in the Iraq War is viewed with hostility across the Arab world.
After Trump revealed his 20-point plan to end the Israel-Hamas war in September, Blair was the only figure publicly named as taking a potential role in the postwar peace council.
The US president supported his appointment and labeled him a “very good man.”
A source told the Financial Times that Blair’s involvement was backed by the US and Israel.
“The Americans like him and the Israelis like him,” the person said.
The US plan for Gaza was criticized in some quarters for proposing a separate Gaza framework that did not include the West Bank, stoking fears that the occupied Palestinian territories would become separate polities indefinitely.
Trump said in October: “I’ve always liked Tony, but I want to find out that he’s an acceptable choice to everybody.”
Blair is reported to have held an unpublicized meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late last month to discuss plans.
His office declined to comment to The Guardian, but an ally said the former prime minister would not be sitting on Gaza’s “board of peace.”
