The United States military has carried out another strike against suspected drug traffickers off the Venezuelan coast, killing six men aboard a vessel identified as part of narcotrafficking operations, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social on Tuesday.

The strike, conducted in international waters near Venezuela, marks the latest in a series of U.S. operations targeting what the Trump administration describes as “narcoterrorist networks” operating in the Caribbean and South American waters. According to Trump, U.S. intelligence confirmed that the vessel was traveling along a known drug smuggling route and was associated with cartel-linked groups.

The latest action brings the total number of deaths from U.S. military operations against suspected narcotrafficking vessels near Venezuela to 27 since September, according to reports by China’s Xinhua news agency.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration formally notified Congress that the United States considers itself in a “non-international armed conflict” with designated drug cartels. The memo stated that cartel operatives would be treated as “unlawful combatants,” granting the U.S. military broader authority to target them, though it did not identify specific organizations or clarify the standards used to determine targeting eligibility.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and other top officials have sharply condemned the U.S. operations, accusing Washington of using the pretext of counter-narcotics to justify expanding its military presence in Latin America and destabilizing the region.

On October 2, Venezuela’s Ministry of Defense reported that U.S. combat aircraft had illegally entered its airspace about 75 kilometers from its coast. Foreign Minister Yván Gil called the move “a provocation that threatens national sovereignty,” denouncing it as a violation of international law and the Convention on International Civil Aviation.