In a report published on Monday, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism Ben Saul concluded that US attacks on suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean violate international law. The report states that the US conducted 68 strikes between September 2025 and August 2026, resulting in at least 223 deaths. Saul's report rejected the US's defense of these strikes as acts of self-defense against "narco-terrorists", arguing that drug trafficking does not meet the legal threshold for an "armed attack" and that less-lethal alternatives were available. The report also questioned the effectiveness of the campaign, noting that cocaine seizures at the US border have remained steady and the strikes do not address fentanyl and opioid trafficking.