Hegseth gave his address, which ran for more than an hour, at the National War College. It delved much more into military minutia than a previous big speech to hundreds of military leaders abruptly summoned to a base in Virginia, where he declared an end to “woke” culture and announced “gender-neutral” directives for troops.

As in previous strikes, U.S. officials did not release the identities of those killed, or offer evidence that they were smuggling narcotics or posed a threat to the U.S.