A wave of drone strikes has reportedly killed hundreds of alleged gang members in Port-au-Prince and temporarily shaken Haiti’s criminal landscape, but legal concerns and mounting civilian casualties have raised questions about the strategy’s long-term effectiveness.
Drone operations targeting gangs in Port-au-Prince have reportedly killed at least 300 alleged gang members and injured more than 400 others, all believed to be members of criminal groups, according to a new report by the National Human Rights Defense Network (Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains – RNDDH).
However, security analysts consulted by InSight Crime said the figures could not be verified, noting that while there have definitely been casualties, the Haitian government has not confirmed the number of those killed or wounded.
The operations, which began in March, were initially deployed as a last-ditch effort to halt the gangs’ advance through several neighborhoods in lower Port-au-Prince as they attempted to push toward the offices of the Prime Minister and the Transitional Presidential Council. Since then, other gang strongholds around the capital have gradually come under attack.
A task force housed in the office of interim Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé is coordinating the drone operations, but the specialized unit appears to be operating independently of Haiti’s main security forces, namely the Haitian National Police (Police Nationale d’Haïti – PNH) and the United Nations-backed Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS), which is led by several hundred Kenyan police officers and tasked with supporting the PNH.
Despite meetings aimed at coordinating drone strikes with ground operations by the PNH and MSS, “effective cooperation has so far been extremely limited,” Diego Da Rin, Haiti analyst at the International Crisis Group, told InSight Crime.
The task force’s activities remain highly opaque. Little is known about who participates and who oversees the missions, although Fritz Alphonse Jean, the head of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council, acknowledged in a meeting with reporters that the government is using foreign contractors to help in the fight against armed gangs.
Part of the opacity stems from the unclear legal basis for using drones against gangs. A spokesperson for the Canadian police recently told The New York Times that lethal drone strikes violate both Haiti’s domestic criminal law and international human rights law, primarily because the country is not engaged in a formally declared “armed conflict.” As a result, the use of force is legally restricted to situations involving an imminent threat to life.
Despite the questions of legality, the operations are extremely popular, Widlore Mérancourt, editor-in-chief of the Haitian news outlet AyiboPost, told InSight Crime.
“This offensive has offered a bit of a reprieve for people living in the central part of the city, which had been increasingly under gang attack,” said Mérancourt. “For the first time in about five years, people are seeing that these gangs are not invincible – that there are ways to hit back and disrupt their activities.”
This morning I received this video showing our seminary building in Haiti being hit by a drone flown by forces opposing the gang that took control of our campus. I have fond memories of teaching in the very classroom it struck. pic.twitter.com/wGINUhZ2iP
— Luke Perkins (@LukeAPerkins) June 16, 2025
That popularity, however, is tempered by growing concerns regarding the risk of civilians being accidentally harmed in drone strikes. And while the operations remain broadly popular, some communities are beginning to express unease.
“Many of the areas where gangs operate are also home to civilians,” Mérancourt added. “I can confirm that civilians were harmed – this comes from accounts provided by healthcare workers and includes women and children.”
But for the Haitian government, this appears to be a secondary concern. A government official interviewed by the Washington Post said civilian casualties were to be expected.
“Let’s be honest – it’s inevitable,” the official said. “To me, it’s just a detail. As long as you’re in a zone controlled by gangs and there are attacks, collateral damage is going to happen.”
InSight Crime Analysis
While the drone strikes appear to have temporarily put the powerful gangs that control much of the capital on the defensive, they are unlikely to offer a long-term solution to Haiti’s security crisis, as these groups continue to adapt to shifts in the government’s anti-gang strategy.
Haiti’s gangs are extremely well-armed and resilient. Each time authorities have altered their approach, the gangs quickly found ways to respond.
“When the Kenyans first arrived in Haiti, the gangs were initially stunned and didn’t know how to react,” said Mérancourt. “But once they realized the Kenyans were mostly patrolling in armored vehicles, they adapted – they started digging trenches in the roads, ambushing the vehicles, and burning them.”
“What we’re seeing now is that the gangs are beginning to adapt to the drone threat,” he added. “They’re hiding deep inside buildings made of reinforced concrete, avoiding main roads, and digging through walls inside houses to create internal passageways – allowing them to move without being exposed in open areas where drones might be patrolling.”
What’s more, the gangs themselves are now attempting to acquire drones and explosives. In early June, three members of the Viv Ansanm, a powerful gang coalition made up of several of Haiti’s largest criminal groups, were arrested in the Dominican Republic while allegedly trying to purchase drones to use against Haitian police, according to the Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste.
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No gang-linked drone attacks have been reported so far, but shortly after authorities targeted Jimmy Chérizier, alias “Barbecue,” in a March drone strike, he released a video claiming that since drones had been used to try to assassinate him, he would now use them to assassinate anyone he wanted.
“I have money. Drones are sold everywhere. I can have some too,” Barbecue said in the video.
Despite reports of hundreds of alleged gang members killed in these drone attacks, there is no evidence that any major leader has been killed or seriously wounded. That could change, and if it does, experts said the security situation may shift dramatically.
“If a prominent leader were to be killed, gangs could launch large-scale retaliatory offensives across the capital and beyond,” said Da Rin.
Still, targeting select gang leaders is unlikely to address the underlying issues compromising the Haitian government’s ability to effectively combat these groups.
Without tighter coordination between the teams carrying out drone strikes and ground units – and without significant international reinforcement to help police reclaim gang-controlled areas – the strikes may, at best, temporarily destabilize the gang coalition and buy authorities time to develop a broader response.
“You cannot resolve Haiti’s security crisis with drones alone,” said Mérancourt. “Even if that were theoretically possible, the resulting civilian casualties would be unacceptable.”
Featured image: A Haitian police operation releases a surveillance drone. Credit: Patrice Noel/Zuma Press