The U.S. military destroyed another suspected narcotics vessel in the Eastern Pacific on Thursday, killing all four men aboard in the 22nd such lethal operation since September.

The strike, personally overseen by War Secretary Pete Hegseth, pushes the campaign’s confirmed death toll past 87 and arrives amid explosive accusations that Hegseth ordered a potential war crime in an earlier attack.

U.S. Southern Command released gun-camera footage showing the small boat erupting in a fireball hundreds of miles from land

The strike is the latest chapter in Operation Southern Spear, an aggressive air-and-sea campaign the Trump administration casts as a blow against what it calls “narco-terrorism.”

Yet many in Congress, international law experts, and the government in Caracas see a darker motive: using the endless “war on drugs” as cover for sustained pressure on Venezuela, whose waters and airspace have seen the heaviest strikes.

At the center of the storm is Hegseth himself. Classified video of the campaign’s first major strike on September 2—killing 11—shows two survivors clinging to floating wreckage for nearly an hour after the initial missile.

A second missile then obliterated them. Multiple sources say Hegseth explicitly told commanders to “make sure nobody survives,” overriding legal cautions.

Many, including former U.S. military prosecutors, call the follow-up strike a clear violation of the laws of war, which forbid attacking individuals hors de combat (out of action due to injury).

Since the February purge of JAG officers under Hegseth, several senior Pentagon officials have resigned or been ousted amid the boat strikes campaign, including Navy JAG Vice Admiral Christopher French and SOUTHCOM commander Admiral Alvin Holsey. Reports link departures to concerns over strike legality and evidence standards, with some officials subpoenaed in congressional probes.

Bipartisan fury mounts—Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) calls it “unacceptable,” while Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) accuses Hegseth of lying or incompetence. The conservative Judge Andrew Napolitano demands the prosecution of the entire chain of command.

The controversy has only been compounded by a recent Pentagon inspector general report confirming Hegseth used the encrypted Signal app on his personal phone to transmit sensitive strike details—violations that have fueled separate congressional and criminal inquiries.