WATCH: Trump Drone Strikes Boatload Of Drug Dealers

President Donald Trump sent a shot across the bow, literally, on Tuesday, using a high-powered drone to missile-strike a boatload of Venezuelan drug traffickers that he touted in a new video.

The strike should serve as a warning to the world, he wrote on Truth Social.

“Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!” said Trump.

The 30-second clip shows a speedboat navigating the sea waters off Venezuela, packed with tightly-wrapped packages ostensibly containing drugs bound for the U.S. At about the 20-second mark, a missile strikes the vessel; flames ignite, and it quickly sinks below the surface of the water.

Release of the video comes after President Trump designated several of South America’s drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, empowering U.S. authorities to pursue their members using antiterrorism tactics and technology.

“Earlier this morning, on my Orders, U.S. Military Forces conducted a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” he explained.

“TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere. The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States.”

“The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike,” he added.

WATCH:

The nighttime aerial raid marks a notable escalation between the U.S. and Venezuela, and it comes days after Maduro accused the U.S. of attempting to carry out a regime change in his country. U.S. naval forces have gathered in and around the Caribbean in recent days, according to the Independent.

Maduro warned that any foreign ship entering Venezuelan waters would be subject to countermeasures, and that he would declare a “republic in arms” without elaborating what his statement implied.

The strike took place on Tuesday morning, but it was first announced by President Trump during an Oval Office meeting that afternoon.

Trump told reporters that U.S. forces “just, over the last few minutes, literally shot out a boat, a drug-carrying boat.”

He added, “A lot of drugs in that boat. And you’ll be seeing that, and you’ll be reading about that… These came out of Venezuela.”

It is the first known direct U.S. military strike against cartel members since President Trump began sending naval forces into the Caribbean last month. He has pushed U.S. forces to contain drug boats distributing fentanyl that he alleges is bound for the U.S. and kills thousands of Americans each year.