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American military have fatally struck four people in an strike on a boat off the coast of Venezuela that was purportedly carrying illegal substances, according to military leadership announcements.

"This operation was carried out in open seas just off the coast of Venezuela while the boat was transporting significant quantities of drugs - en route to America to endanger our population," officials stated in a government release.

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

The strikes have drawn censure in nations such as Venezuela and Colombia, with some legal experts describing the attacks as a violation of worldwide jurisprudence.

Mission Information

Armed forces representatives indicated the strike was conducted in the US naval force's area of responsibility, which includes most of South America and the Caribbean.

"Collected data, unquestionably, established that this boat was transporting drugs, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a established narcotics transportation transit route," authorities stated about Friday's strike.

"Military actions will continue until the attacks on the United States population are ended!!!!"

American leader also verified the military action on social media, stating that the boat was containing adequate illegal substances "to cause death to 25 to 50 thousand persons".

Questions and Controversy

However, the US has failed to supply verification for its assertions or any details about the backgrounds of those present on the ship.

There was no prompt reaction from Venezuela but its president has before now condemned the operations and declared his nation will protect itself in response to US "military intervention".

Friday's fatal attack is the fourth by the US in a recent timeframe.

Before this, military leaders had stated that eleven persons had been eliminated in a military action against a illegal substances-bearing vessel in the southern Caribbean at the beginning of September.

Later in the month, two separate strikes days apart eliminated a combined six individuals.

Jurisdictional Context

This in the past week, a confidential communication delivered to Congress – reported by media outlets – said the US federal authorities had now concluded it was in a "non-international armed conflict" with drug cartels.

This is important because the government is required by legislation to report to Congress if it will deploy the military, which implies it plans to use additional armed intervention.

The US has presented its operations on alleged drug boats as self-protection, regardless of many legal experts questioning their legality.

Characterizing this as an active armed conflict is presumably a method to rationalize using escalated military authorities – for example killing "combatants" even if they have not posed a physical risk, or imprisoning people indefinitely.

These are analogous privileges to those implemented regarding other organizations in previous confrontations.

Federal authorities have failed to supply the reasoning for why they seem to be categorizing illegal substances trade and related crimes as an "combat situation", or named which cartels they consider are threatening the US.

Authorities have already designated many organizations, like those in Mexico, Ecuador and Venezuela, as threat entities – granting US authorities more powers in their response to them.