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American military have killed four persons in an strike on a ship near Venezuela that was purportedly trafficking drugs, per military leadership declarations.

"The strike was conducted in open seas just off the coast of Venezuela while the ship was moving significant quantities of narcotics - headed to America to harm our citizens," military representatives announced in a public statement.

This constitutes the latest in a succession of lethal attacks that the US has executed on boats in open seas it states are involved in "drug smuggling".

The strikes have drawn condemnation in states including Venezuela and Colombia, with some jurisprudence specialists labeling the attacks as a infringement of international law.

Mission Information

Defense authorities indicated the attack was conducted in the US Southern Command's area of responsibility, which encompasses most of South America and the Caribbean.

"Collected data, unquestionably, confirmed that this boat was smuggling illegal substances, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were using a known drug smuggling transportation path," officials stated about Friday's attack.

"These strikes will persist until the attacks on the American people are ended!!!!"

The President furthermore acknowledged the strike on social media, claiming that the boat was transporting sufficient illegal substances "to kill 25 to 50 thousand persons".

Questions and Controversy

Nonetheless, the US has failed to supply proof for its allegations or any particulars about the backgrounds of those on board.

There was no immediate response from Venezuela but its head of state has earlier denounced the operations and stated his nation will protect itself in response to US "hostile actions".

This latest deadly strike is the fourth such by the US in a month.

Earlier, military leaders had stated that 11 people had been killed in a operation against a narcotics-transporting boat in the southern Caribbean at the beginning of September.

Later in the timeframe, two separate strikes separated by a short interval eliminated a aggregate six people.

Policy Background

This Thursday, a leaked memo provided to Congress – covered by journalistic sources – said the US government had now decided it was in a "non-international armed conflict" with trafficking groups.

This is important because the executive branch is mandated by legislation to inform Congress if it will employ the armed forces, which suggests it aims to use more combat operations.

The US has framed its strikes on purported trafficking ships as self-defence, regardless of many legal experts challenging their lawfulness.

Characterizing this as an active armed conflict is presumably a approach to justify using heightened wartime powers – for example neutralizing "combatants" even if they have not demonstrated a physical risk, or imprisoning people without limit.

These represent similar privileges to those used against previous groups in earlier military situations.

Administration representatives have failed to supply the reasoning for why they appear to be categorizing narcotics smuggling and related crimes as an "combat situation", or specified which cartels they believe are threatening the US.

Officials have already designated many cartels, such as those in Mexico, Ecuador and Venezuela, as extremist groups – giving US agencies enhanced authorities in their reaction to them.