In what legal experts describe as a serious violation of the laws of war, the US military used an aircraft disguised as a civilian plane to strike a boat in international waters, according to a report by The New York Times.
The strike, carried out on September 2, 2025, in the Caribbean Sea, marked the beginning of a sustained campaign of US attacks on boats accused of carrying drugs. Since that day, the US military has launched at least 35 strikes in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 123 sailors.
While the Donald Trump administration has labelled those targeted as narco-terrorists, it has not presented evidence to support the claims or publicly identified any of the individuals killed.
Aircraft disguised as civilian plane
According to the report, the aircraft used in the September 2 strike had been painted to resemble a civilian plane, concealing its military identity. The Times noted that the aircraft also carried its weapons inside the fuselage rather than mounting them visibly under the wings, a standard feature of military aircraft.
The deliberate effort to hide the aircraft’s combatant status raised alarms within the US government itself. Questions about the concealment were reportedly raised during closed-door congressional briefings, though details were not made public because the aircraft involved remains classified.
Legal experts told the newspaper that disguising military equipment as civilian assets in order to carry out an attack constitutes perfidy, a practice explicitly prohibited under both US military law and international humanitarian law.
Secondary strike on shipwrecked survivors
The same operation has drawn further scrutiny because it involved a follow-up strike that killed two unarmed survivors of the initial attack after their boat had been destroyed.
Killing shipwrecked sailors who pose no threat is prohibited under the laws of armed conflict and has long been considered a war crime under US military rules and international conventions.
Former officials cited by The Times said the combination of deception, concealment, and the killing of survivors made the September 2 strike particularly egregious.
Legal definition of perfidy
Under the norms governing armed conflict, feigning civilian status to gain a military advantage is known as perfidy. It is considered a war crime because it exploits protections afforded to civilians.
Multiple former US officials told The Times that the September 2 strike met the legal threshold for perfidy.
Major General Steven J Lepper, retired, a former Deputy Judge Advocate General of the US Air Force, explained how the disguise could itself amount to a war crime.
“If the military aircraft had been painted to disguise its military nature and approached close enough for those on the boat to see it, tricking them into failing to realise they should take evasive action or surrender to survive, that was a war crime under armed-conflict standards,” Lepper told The Times.
He added: “Shielding your identity is an element of perfidy. If the aircraft flying above is not identifiable as a combatant aircraft, it should not be engaged in combatant activity.”
Military rules contradict US actions
The report also cited a US military handbook that explicitly bars such conduct at sea. The handbook states that combatants must use offensive force “within the bounds of military honour, particularly without resort to perfidy”.
It further stresses that commanders have a duty to distinguish their own forces from civilians, a requirement intended to protect non-combatants and preserve the integrity of the laws of war.
Legal analysts told The Times that the September 2 strike appeared to violate these principles on multiple counts, raising the possibility that the operation could expose US officials to accusations of war crimes once again.
As scrutiny mounts, the report underscores a deeper concern that the rules the US has long championed in global conflicts may have been breached by its own forces in international waters.
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