Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Sunday that the U.S. military took out a drug-smuggling boat he said was connected to a Colombian terrorist group. 

According to Hegseth, the Department of War on Friday conducted a lethal kinetic strike targeting a vessel linked to the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a designated foreign terrorist organization. The ELN, also known as the National Liberation Army, is an insurgent group that clashes with the Colombian government. 

“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics,” Hegseth said. “There were three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike—which was conducted in international waters. All three terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.”

On October 17th, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a Designated Terrorist Organization, that was operating in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility.

The… pic.twitter.com/1v7oR879LC

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 19, 2025

“These cartels are the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, using violence, murder and terrorism to impose their will, threaten our national security and poison our people. The United States military will treat these organizations like the terrorists they are—they will be hunted, and killed, just like Al Qaeda,” Hegseth added. 

Earlier this month, Hegseth set up a new counter-narcotics task force meant to target drug cartels operating in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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The ELN is one of the “one of the most powerful insurgent groups in Colombia,” according to the National Counterterrorism Center, which is staffed with personnel from various federal intelligence agencies. With around 2,500 fighters, the group aims to control portions of Colombia where drugs are produced through armed assaults, assassinations, extortion operations, and hostage-takings. 

The strike comes as President Donald Trump has been placing increased pressure on Colombian authorities to crack down on drug trafficking. Trump announced over the weekend that he would be cutting off foreign aid to the South American country. 

“They don’t have a fight against drugs. They make drugs. They refine drugs. They make cocaine. They have cocaine factories. They have no fight against drugs. And I’m stopping all payments to Colombia because they don’t have anything to do with their fight against drugs,” Trump said Sunday night. “They are a drug manufacturing machine, Colombia, and we’re not going to be part of it.”

Vice President JD Vance is expected to visit the Middle East on Tuesday to push the second phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas as it teeters on renewed violence from the terror group.

Israel accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire on Sunday after militants appeared out of a tunnel in Israeli-controlled territory in Gaza and killed two Israeli soldiers in an anti-tank rocket attack. In response, the Israeli military launched around 20 airstrikes across Gaza, according to Axios.

Hamas did not deny the attack, though it said that it was carried out by a faction or militants that were not acting on orders from Hamas leadership.

“We are not aware of any incidents or clashes taking place in the Rafah area, because these are zones under Israeli control, and contact has been severed with our groups that remained there,” Hamas said in a statement, according to Axios.

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In addition to the attack, Hamas continues to be in violation of phase one of the ceasefire deal by failing to return all the bodies of the deceased hostages. About half of the deceased remain in Gaza, and the terror group has said it needs more time to locate them.

The United States and Israel have made separate accusations against the terror group in recent days of violating the terms of the ceasefire agreement that saw Israel withdraw from roughly half of Gaza and release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The U.S. State Department on Saturday said in a statement that the “United States has informed the guarantor nations of the Gaza peace agreement of credible reports indicating an imminent ceasefire violation by Hamas against the people of Gaza.”

The State Department’s statement is “likely related to Hamas’ crackdown on the Palestinian population since the ceasefire went into effect,” according to Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior research analyst Joe Truzman.

Since the ceasefire officially began last week, videos have surfaced on social media of Hamas militants publicly executing or brutally beating Gazans. In one video, militants drop large rocks on a man’s legs before beating him with a pipe.

Trump has repeatedly said that Hamas will disarm, or they will be disarmed. He repeated that promise in an interview with Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that aired on Sunday.

“They promised they would [disarm]. They said they would. It’s [written] down that they would,” said Trump. “If we have to, we’ll disarm them.”

He clarified that the United States would not send soldiers into Gaza and that a proxy could fight Hamas: “Could be Israel with our backing. We won’t have boots on the ground. There’s no reason to.”

The actions of Hamas militants inside and outside its zone of control in the Gaza Strip have strained the already tenuous ceasefire in place between the terror group and Israel. Vance is expected to visit Israel with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff to provide more direct oversight of the terms of the peace agreement.

One major point of tension in the peace process is the requirement that Hamas be disarmed.

“There is no security infrastructure currently that would ensure Hamas is disarmed,” Vance said on Sunday evening.