The Pentagon has yet to unveil details of the first known land attack<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump has stated that US forces destroyed a \u201cbig facility\u201d along the shore of Venezuela, marking what appears to be the first known land strike by the US within the country.
\nOn Friday, Trump first mentioned the US military action in an interview on WABC radio, saying, \u201cWe just knocked out\u2026 a big plant or big facility where the ships come from. So we hit them very hard.\u201d
\nSpeaking at Mar-a-Lago alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Trump described the target as an \u201cimplementation\u201d area allegedly linked to drug trafficking.
\n\u201cThere was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Venezuela accuses US of \u2018greatest extortion\u2019 in history<\/p>\n
Details surrounding the operation remain scarce. The\u00a0location of the facility, method of attack, inflicted damage, and possible casualties are all currently unknown. The Pentagon and US Southern Command have deferred questions to the White House, which has not yet issued a comment.
\nTrump has previously hinted that the US could launch land strikes inside Venezuela and has authorized covert CIA operations within the country as part of a broader effort to put pressure on President Nicolas Maduro. The US president refused to clarify whether the CIA was involved in the latest strike.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t want to say that,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI know exactly who it was, but I don\u2019t want to say who it was. But you know, it was along the shore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Washington deploys more troops to Caribbean \u2013 WSJ<\/p>\n
The Venezuelan government has yet to publicly acknowledge the purported attack. Caracas has repeatedly denied that it is involved in drug trafficking, saying the allegations are being fabricated to justify a regime-change operation.
\nThe move follows months of escalating tensions between the US and Venezuela, with the US military hitting at least\u00a030 alleged drug trafficking boats since early September, resulting in at least 107 deaths. The US has built up its military presence in the Caribbean, with 15,000 troops and several warships positioned in the region.
\nThe US has also seized several tankers transporting Venezuelan oil in international waters, claiming the vessels were operating in violation of Washington\u2019s unilateral sanctions. Authorities in Caracas have denounced the seizures as \u201cpiracy,\u201d while accusing Trump of trying to gain control of the country\u2019s oil reserves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Pentagon has yet to unveil details of the first known land attack President Donald Trump has stated that US forces destroyed a \u201cbig facility\u201d along the shore of Venezuela,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t