US President Donald Trump's deadly strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat from Venezuela marks a significant escalation from law enforcement to military action against cartels that his administration has branded as terror groups.

Video footage posted by Trump on social media Tuesday showed a multi-engine speedboat with several people aboard bouncing across the waves -- but rather than being stopped and boarded, the vessel is suddenly engulfed in an inferno.

The US president said 11 members of the Tren de Aragua gang were killed in the strike, which should "serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America."

Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the strike "demonstrates a cha

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