Pete Hegseth has unveiled “Operation Southern Spear,” marking a new U.S. initiative targeting narco-terrorists in South America.

This announcement by the defense secretary came just a few days after it was reported that the U.S. had neutralized 75 suspected drug terrorists since the Pentagon shifted its attention to this region.

Hegseth shared on social media, “Under President Trump’s directive, the Department of Defense is actively responding. Today, I am introducing Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR.”

“Spearheaded by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and @SOUTHCOM, this mission is crucial for safeguarding our Homeland, eliminating narco-terrorists from our hemisphere, and protecting our nation from the deadly drug trade,” he continued.

“The Western Hemisphere is essentially America’s backyard, and we are committed to its defense.”

The Daily Mail has contacted the White House for further remarks.

The announcement comes a day after Trump met with Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan ‘Raizin’ Caine to brief the president on potential options in the region, CBS News reported. 

It also follows Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s defense of the strikes after France’s  foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said they were in violation of international law.

Pete Hegseth announced the United States’ latest effort against narco-terrorists in South America with ‘Operation Southern Spear.’

The defense secretary made the announcement on social media just days after it was revealed the US has killed 75 suspected drug terrorists since the Pentagon began focusing on the region

‘We have observed with concern the military operations in the Caribbean region, because they violate international law and because France has a presence in this region through its overseas territories, where more than a million of our compatriots reside,’ Barrot said on the sidelines of the Group of Seven foreign ministers’ summit in Canada. 

‘I don’t think that the European Union gets to determine what international law is. They certainly don’t get to determine is how the United States defends its national security,’ Rubio responded at the same summit. 

‘The United States is under attack from organized criminal narco-terrorists in our hemisphere, and the president is responding in the defense of our country.’

Rubio called out the EU’s hypocrisy for asking the US for weapons but wanting a say in how America uses its own arsenal.  

‘I do find it interesting that all these countries want us to send and supply, for example, nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles to defend Europe,’ Rubio added. 

‘But when the United States positions aircraft carriers in our hemisphere, where we live, somehow, that’s a problem.’ 

The Trump administration says the U.S. military has killed at least 75 people in 19 known strikes against what it says are drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since early September. 

Two strikes were conducted under the President’s orders on Sunday, killing six. It brings the death toll of suspected drug terrorists so far to 75. 

The announcement comes a day after Trump met with Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan ‘Raizin’ Caine to brief the president on potential options in the region

US intelligence discovered the vessels were ‘associated with illicit narcotics smuggling,’ according to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who announced the operation on social media Monday.

He claimed both vessels were carrying narcotics but did not specify the exact drugs or location in the Eastern Pacific Ocean where the strike took place.

The cabinet secretary added: ‘Both strikes were conducted in international waters and three male narco-terrorists were aboard each vessel. All six were killed. No US forces were harmed.’

Since starting his second term, Trump has applied more military pressure on Venezuela by accusing the socialist regime of trafficking drugs into the United States.

Trump has also labeled the largest drug cartels in Mexico as terrorist organizations.

‘Under President Trump, we are protecting the homeland and killing these cartel terrorists who wish to harm our country and its people,’ Hegseth concluded.

The administration has been under pressure from Congress to provide more information about who is being targeted and the legal justification for the strikes. 

Critics have claimed that the Trump administration’s targeted strikes on drug smugglers represent extrajudicial killings.  

The Pentagon has yet to release concrete evidence to the public that the vessels were carrying narcotics or posed a threat to the US. 

Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

He has asserted America is engaged in an ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terrorism after the September 11 attacks.

Senate Democrats have expressed doubts over the legality of the strikes, and last week renewed their request for more information about the strikes in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Hegseth.

‘We also request that you provide all legal opinions related to these strikes and a list of the groups or other entities the President has deemed targetable,’ the senators wrote.

A White House spokesman claimed Trump has a mandate from the American public to take decisive action against cartels.