America has started attacks in the interior areas Venezuela That looks more likely as the Trump administration continues to boost the build-up of military assets in the region, increasing pressure against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom US officials have characterized as an “illegitimate leader.”
The administration has identified military facilities used for drug trafficking in Venezuela as potential targets for attack, although President Trump has not made a final decision on whether to launch strikes inside the South American country, according to The Wall Street Journal.informedThursday night. The outlet cited a US official as saying that possible targets under consideration are military-controlled airports and ports, including airstrips and naval facilities.
When asked on Friday whether he was considering an attack in Venezuela and whether he had made up his mind, Trump denied it.
“No. That’s not true,” the Presidenttold reportersAboard Air Force One en route to Florida.
“We’re certainly looking at the land now that we’ve got the sea under control,” Trump said. Said Earlier this month, there was discussion in the White House about whether he was considering a ground attack in Venezuela.
The administration has taken a more aggressive approach toward the South American country in recent months. blowing up Alleged drug trafficking boats off the coast of Caracas, doubling The Department of Justice (DOJ) will offer a $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest. sending military assets to the areaInvolved recent direction USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, and its strike group in the Caribbean.
Mark Cancian, a former Department of Defense (DoD) official and senior adviser at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said the US now has “much more leeway” to strike.
“First of all, they’re building up assets and activities to do this. They don’t have to do that, but it’s going to be hard to step back until something happens. I mean, something like Maduro’s gone, or something like that. But Maduro stayed in there, and the Trump administration didn’t do anything after all this build-up that would feel like a victory for Maduro, and he’ll treat it that way,” Cancion said in an interview with The Hill.
“So they have to do something, unless Maduro resigns or does something dramatic enough that Trump can claim success,” he said.
miami herald informed Citing unnamed officials on Friday, the potential attacks would be aimed at dismantling the hierarchy of drug cartels in Venezuela. Secretary of State Marco Rubio refuted the article, Saying This is a “fake story”.
Christopher Hernandez-Roy, a senior fellow and deputy director of the Americas program at CSIS, noted Trump’s denial of the reports, but said the U.S. military’s role is to “identify strike packages to provide the president with options.”
Hernandez-Roy told The Hill that the attacks inside Venezuela would represent a “significant increase” and that they would be “more difficult to explain away as mere anti-narcotics operations, especially if the targets are facilities controlled by the Venezuelan military.”
“If there are ground strikes, I would expect them to be on targets that are more reliably connected [Drug Trafficking Organizations]Say a dock from where drug boats disembark, or a warehouse near a dock, or some other infrastructure not linked to the government or military that is linked to drug trafficking,” he said on Friday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, when asked Friday in Malaysia about the military buildup in the Caribbean, said the administration “takes the security of our hemisphere very seriously.”
“I’m not going to talk specifically about why the troops are where in every situation, but they have a clear mission and they are executing it,” he said.
America hasSent surveillance aircraft, fighter jets, warships, at least one submarineAnd marines continue to arrive in the areaBring out alleged drug traffickingboats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, at least 61 “narco-terrorists” have been killed so far in the operation.
The US currently has USS Iwo Jima, USS Stockdale, USS Gravely, USS San Antonio, USS Wichita, USS Lake Erie and USS Jason Dunham in the region, as well as USS Newport News, a nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine, and MV Ocean Trader, a special operations ship that can gather intelligence.
The USS Gettysburg, a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser, is also now in the Caribbean, a U.S. Navy official confirmed to The Hill on Friday on condition of anonymity.
The US does not have enough assets in the region to launch an invasion, according to Cancion, who said US forces are “in a good position to attack, but not to land on Venezuela.”
In light of reports of US attacks on Venezuelan targets, Caracas’ close ally Russia issued support for Venezuela’s leadership in “defending its national sovereignty, taking into account the dynamics of the international and regional situation”.
“We are ready to respond appropriately to the requests of our partners in the face of emerging threats,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.SaidIn a statement on social platform X on Friday.
According to the documents, Maduro is asking Iran, China and Russia to strengthen their military and provide additional assistance, including jet repairs, defensive radar and potentially missiles.receivedBy Washington Post.
A Russian plane, an Ilyushin Il-76, which is under US sanctions and is linked to Moscow’s military and the Wagner mercenary group, was in Caracas on Sunday after stops in Armenia, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal and Mauritania.AccordingFor flight-tracking data.
Maduro claimed last week that Venezuela has at least 5,000 Russian-made Igla-S man-portable surface-to-air missiles that can hit targets up to 1,600 feet and about 3.5 miles and 2 miles away. In Height depends on type.
Venezuela has anti-ship missiles, including Kh-31 supersonic missiles supplied by Russia, which can be fired from Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets. Caracas also has Iranian anti-ship missiles on Zulfiqar-class air-defense boats, but Hernandez-Roy said he did not expect either system to penetrate the defensive shields of American ships.
“So they will try to intercept anything that comes over Venezuela, whether they’re cruise missiles or aircraft, and they might be lucky if actual aircraft come over Venezuela,” Cancion said. “That’s why I doubt any air missions will be conducted with long-range missiles like Tomahawks. But there are other possibilities, so you won’t put American service members in danger.”
The US public’s approval of the Navy’s presence around Venezuela has declined since September, when the first strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats began, according to a new YouGov study. survey Which was released on Friday. In September, 36 percent approved of the deployment at least somewhat and 38 percent said otherwise. Now, only 30 percent of Americans approve of it and 37 percent disapprove at least somewhat.
The survey found that more American adults disapprove than approve of military strikes against alleged drug-trafficking ships around Venezuela and nearly half of Americans, 47 percent, oppose military strikes on land targets in the South American nation. Only 19 percent people support it.
progressive, Involved Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) resonant Their opposition to possible attacks inside Venezuela demands that Trump receive congressional approval for military action inside the country, while Representative Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) announced Maduro “wanted an early Christmas, but Halloween always comes first.”
