U.S. Resumes Boat Strikes After a Two-Month Pause, Killing Two and Bringing the Campaign Toll to 223

U.S. Southern Command announced on Aug. 24 that American forces had carried out a "lethal kinetic strike on a low-profile vessel" in the eastern Pacific the previous day, killing two people it accused of drug trafficking. It was the first such strike in more than two months. By the Associated Press's count the campaign has now killed 223 people in 67 strikes off Latin America's Caribbean coast and in the eastern Pacific, destroying 64 speedboats, three low-profile ships and a semisubmersible.

As with most announcements, Southern Command did not release evidence that the vessel carried drugs. AP reported that of 28 people who survived strikes, three have been rescued, and that more than 20 search-and-rescue efforts were almost all unsuccessful. Critics have questioned the campaign's legality and effectiveness.

The Pentagon's inspector general said in May it would examine whether the military followed its established targeting framework, an evaluation the office said does not address the strikes' legality.