Category World News

In a move that stunned the world, the United States bombed Venezuela and toppled President Nicolas Maduro amid condemnation and plaudits.

In a news conference on Saturday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, President Donald Trump praised the operation to seize Maduro as one of the “most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history”.

It was the riskiest and most high-profile military operation sanctioned by Washington since the US Navy’s SEAL team killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a safe house in Pakistan’s Abbottabad in 2011.

News of the 63-year-old Maduro being abducted took over the global news cycle.

After months of escalation and threats over Maduro’s alleged involvement in shipping drugs to the US, the Trump administration had increased pressure on Caracas with a military build-up in the Caribbean and a series of deadly missile attacks on alleged drug-running boats that had killed more than 100 people and whose legality has been heavily questioned by the United Nations and legal experts.

The US had also previously offered a $50m reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest.

But while the military was conducting operations in the Caribbean, US intelligence had been gathering information about Maduro, his eating habits, and special forces covertly rehearsed a plan to remove him from power forcibly.

Here’s everything we know about how Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were “captured”.

How was Maduro abducted?

The operation, named “Absolute Resolve”, was carefully rehearsed for months, according to General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who spoke at Trump’s news conference.

Trump also told Fox News that US forces had practised their extraction of Maduro on a replica building.

“They actually built a house which was identical to the one they went into with all the same, all that steel all over the place,” Trump said.

At 11:46pm local time on Friday (03:46 GMT on Saturday), Trump gave the green light.

On Friday night, Caine said, “the weather broke just enough, clearing a path that only the most skilled aviators in the world could move through”, with about 150 aircraft involved in the operation, taking off from 20 different airbases across the Western Hemisphere.

As part of the operation, US forces disabled Venezuela’s air defence systems, with Trump saying the “lights of Caracas were largely turned off due to a certain expertise that we have”, without elaborating.

Several deafening explosions rang out across the capital, with Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, describing it as part of a “massive joint military and law enforcement raid” that lasted less than 30 minutes.

US helicopters then touched down at Maduro’s compound in the capital at 2:01am (06:01 GMT) on Saturday, with the president and his wife then taken into custody.

There has been no readout on whether there was an exchange of fire, in a chaotic scramble, or if they were taken without a struggle.

At 4:29am (08:29 GMT), just two and a half hours later, Maduro was put on board a US aircraft carrier, en route to New York. Trump later posted a photograph of the Venezuelan leader on his Truth Social social media platform, blindfolded, wearing a grey tracksuit.

After departing the USS Iwo Jima, US forces escorted Maduro on a flight, touching down in New York’s Stewart Air National Guard Base at about 4:30pm (21:30 GMT).

How many people were killed in the US strikes on Venezuela?

The US strikes hit Caracas as well as the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira, according to the Venezuelan government.

To Linda Unamumo, a public worker, the US attacks caused an explosion that was so strong it destroyed the roof of her house.

“Even up until a little while ago, I was still crying … I was crying because I was so scared … I had to leave my house with my daughter, with my family, and go to another house, a neighbour’s house. It was really traumatic. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, really,” she told the AFP news agency.

While official casualty counts have yet to be released, an official told The New York Times newspaper on condition of anonymity that at least 40 people had been killed in the attacks.

According to Trump, a few US members were injured in the operation, but he believed no one was killed.

What’s next for Venezuela?

During his news conference on Saturday, Trump announced that the US would “run” the country until a new leader was chosen.

“We’re going to make sure that country is run properly. We’re not doing this in vain,” he said. “This is a very dangerous attack. This is an attack that could have gone very, very badly.”

The president did not rule out deploying US troops in the country and said he was “not afraid of boots on the ground if we have to”.

Trump also, somewhat surprisingly, ruled out working with opposition figure and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, who had dedicated her prize, which he so wanted to win himself, to the US president.

“She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country,” he said.

The Constitutional Chamber of Venezuela’s Supreme Court ordered Vice President Delcy Rodriguez to serve as acting president following the US’s abduction of Maduro.

The court ruled that Rodriguez will assume “the office of President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in order to guarantee administrative continuity and the comprehensive defence of the Nation”.

The court also said it would work to “determine the applicable legal framework to guarantee the continuity of the State, the administration of government, and the defense of sovereignty in the face of the forced absence of the President of the Republic”.

Trump had said earlier on Saturday that the US would not occupy Venezuela, provided Rodriguez “does what we want”.

After Bashar al-Assad’s regime was overthrown last year, Syria is still dealing with numerous difficulties. Among the key priorities for the new government is rebuilding its national army and security forces.

Many people viewed Syria’s military and security apparatus as brutal forces designed to bolster the regime and repress dissent for decades.

The new interim government has begun the hiring and restructuring process, with an emphasis on reviving the military and adopting a new doctrine of country loyalty.

“We started the process of restructuring our military and army … and we are meeting the need of the moment by having an army that Syria deserves as a nation to building an army that represents Syria and is able to face the challenges, ‘ ‘ Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said during a ceremony for soldiers graduating from a military academy in the city of Aleppo.

We will strengthen our military’s capabilities and enhance our readiness to defend our country by developing all branches of the armed forces. And we already issued rules of conduct and discipline, “Abu Qasra said after attending a military march by newly graduating candidates showing off their camouflage uniform and military vehicles and rifles.

Given the difficulties that lie ahead, the rebuilding process may take time and effort, according to analysts, not least of which is changing the mindset of armed groups and making them a part of an organized, professional army.

And deciding whether to integrate forces from southern Syria and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northeast, as well as vetting the large number of recruits to the country’s newly formed security forces, is one of the main issues. It also involves gaining the trust of the country’s numerous minority groups.

The success of the Syrian armed forces would go a long way to providing political stability in the country, and, with it, possible foreign investment and support for the government in Damascus.

Syria faces an existential challenge of fragmentation and disintegration, according to Caroline Rose, New Lines Institute director of military and national security priorities, Al Jazeera reported.

The country runs the risk of frequent security flashpoints, including infighting between various armed groups and its armed forces, without unification within its army and ongoing sectarian division, according to Rosen.

Vetting

When the al-Assad regime collapsed on December 8, 2024, so did its security apparatus and armed forces. Many renounced their positions and fanned to neighboring nations, others hid in their homes, and others turned in their military identification to the new authority.

Israel also launched numerous airstrikes throughout the country in the first hours after al-Assad fled. On December 10, the Israeli military said in a statement that it had destroyed 80 percent of Syria’s strategic military capabilities. Israel attacked Syria more than 600 times last year.

The new Syrian Army is, according to Rosen, starting from scratch because Israel destroyed a lot of Syria’s conventional land, aerial, and naval military equipment in the first days of al-Assad’s fall, along with the removal of many regime-era officers and soldiers from its ranks, Rosen said.

Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa has dissolved the former army. About 40, 000 fighters make up his group, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which for years ruled the province of Idlib during the Syrian revolution.

With those figures, Syria’s government would struggle to rule the country in its entirety.

President al-Sharaa appointed military commanders and merged several anti-Assad factions into the new security apparatus and military. The Syrian Armed Forces are now under the control of the Ministry of Defense, while General Security is under the control of the Ministry of Interior. Additionally, they made recruitment more accessible to the general public, resulting in tens of thousands of fresh faces, which analysts see as two major issues.

The first was the breakneck speed of recruitment, due to the need for manpower, which meant vetting was sidelined. After years of sanctions, open conflict, and state theft, thousands of young men in Syria’s 18-23-year-old demographic sought these positions, at least partially because they were among the few economic prospects.

According to Amy Akil, a nonresident fellow at the Tahrir Institute, “keeping Syria’s security glued together is a very delicate balance.”

” It’s not about recruiting only, it’s about the merger of so many factions and no proper vetting process. After the one- or two-year benchmark, I’m confident that they will be more selective in their hiring decisions.

Foreign fighters who participated actively in numerous rival factions’ campaigns against the al-Assad regime are a major issue for Syria’s new rulers.

Western powers, including the US, had issued clear warnings to Damascus: No room for foreign fighters in any key military positions. The fighters won’t take up positions in important positions and won’t “pose any threat” to their countries, according to President Ahmed al-Sharaa of Syria on numerous occasions.

Analysts believe that there are still tens of thousands of officers or noncommissioned officers (NCOs) with military training who are unlikely to be incorporated into Syria’s new security apparatus. This is another significant issue.

The Syrian defence minister has said that the army welcomed about 3000 regime-era soldiers back into its ranks after vetting. However, according to experts, there are still a few middle-level military officers with both conventional and unconventional battlefield experience.

A Syrian military official, who was quoted by a report from the Washington, DC-based Middle East Institute, claimed that under al-Assad, there were approximately 70 000 Alawite officers and NCOs and that their reinstatement was highly unlikely. Battle-hardened, military-capable men not serving in the country’s military could also pose a problem to Damascus.

According to a report released on December 5, the Reuters news agency reported that Kamal Hassan, a billionaire and al-Assad’s cousin, and Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of al-Assad, are “investing millions of dollars in competing efforts to form fighting forces that would create a revolt along Syria’s coast (al-Assad’s former stronghold). Additionally, reports in US media reported that Makhlouf is funding a revolt against the government that includes more than 160, 000 Alawite and former army personnel.

Russia or the US

Syria had become a distant country after al-Assad’s regime ended. Analysts claim that without them, al-Assad would not have been able to maintain his position of power for as long as he did. Russia and Iran were two of the few remaining allies.

But after al-Assad fled to Moscow in the early hours of December 8, Syria’s position in the international community quickly changed. As a result of the severed Iranian-Syrian relations, Syria under the auspices of countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who had previously opposed al-Assad.

Al-Sharaa visited the White House in November, a first for the Syrian president, indicating a strengthening relationship between his country and the US. But despite Russia’s support of al-Assad and providing him refuge, relations with the new Syrian government are not completely shattered.

The SAA’s doctrine and equipment are essentially a Russian force, according to Rob Geist Pinfold, a King’s College London expert on international security, who spoke to Al Jazeera.

This means that Russian equipment is what they currently need whenever they need spare parts or more stock.

“This not only gives Russia some leverage over the government, it also creates problems for Syria-US relations, since the Trump administration wants to pry Damascus away from not just Tehran but Moscow as well”, Geist Pinfold added.

A number of regional and international actors are collaborating to strengthen the Syrian military’s capabilities, according to analysts.

“The US is most certainly playing a role in bolstering the Syrian Army’s intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) abilities through frequent intelligence exchange”, Rose, from the New Lines Institute, said.

We should anticipate that the US will foster a closer security relationship by deploying advisers for training and guidance as Syria prepares to face an ISIS cell surge.

In order to provide the Syrian Armed Forces with training, advisory, and technical assistance, Turkiye also signed a bilateral defense agreement with the US in August. Under the deal, 49 Syrian cadets (10 army, 18 navy and 21 air force) started undergoing training in Turkish academies, according to reports in Turkish media.

Integration and minorities

Syria’s security forces must still establish domestic order and confidence, despite the support from other countries.

Security forces were reportedly involved in sectarian massacres along Syria’s coast and in the southern region of Suwayda. Although these incidents attracted international attention, many in the nation’s elites lost faith in the military.

“Most Sunni Arab Syrians still trust the army and the government, according to opinion polls. But minority communities do not”, Geist Pinfold said.

The SAA [Syrian Arab Army] is less of a military force and more of a sectarian militia, according to these groups, who believe it doesn’t protect them but actively seeks to undermine their own security and interests.

After US forces seize the leader and his wife from Caracas during a raid on the country to face “drug-trafficking” charges, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro shows up at the drug-trafficking detention center in New York.

Alaa Alzanin, his wife, five children, his 71-year-old mother, and his younger sister are surviving after they lost their home in Beit Hanoon during the Israeli occupation. They are residing in a tiny tent at a UN-run school in central Gaza City. They have been forced to live in this tent because they have had eight previous winters to avoid the rain and cold.

Because of his lack of employment, Alzanin, 41, is unable to support his family. He works as a day laborer in the Gaza Strip, but he is also unemployed like the hundreds of thousands of others who live in the area.

He continued, adding that he previously worked in the fields of agriculture and infrastructure and that he could no longer provide for his family.

I used to sand the soil around the trees, spray pesticides, plant tomatoes and cucumbers, and use an axe to open water channels between the trees. I used to work from 7am to 4pm for 40–50 shekels [$13-$15] per day. ”

Majed Hamouda is another unemployed man. The 53-year-old man from Jabalia, northern Gaza, has polio, and his wife carries thalassaemia. He lives in a camp close to the Remal neighborhood school with his five children. Due to his poor health, he can’t work and relies on financial aid from the Ministry of Development and charity. And his aid has stopped since the start of the war.

We only look at living people, yes, I vouch, but we are still like dead people. Even dogs live better lives than dogs, according to Hamouda, according to Al Jazeera, if they destroy your home and evict you from the streets like dogs.

No one would intervene, but the dog in the street kicked it off, he said, adding that we were [kicked out] and displaced in the streets. as one of his daughters began to cry.

The father asks his only son to come up with plastic bags and garbage from the streets so he can support his family when they have nothing to eat on occasion.

Yaqoub, my son, was the first child in the fourth grade in the north. He conducted eight exemplary scientific experiments for his or her age and was awarded the Little Scientist prize from the Ministry of Education. I regret looking at him as he runs after the camp’s hot meal deliveries and gathers nylon to cook food. He explained that he occasionally makes me cry.

It has since become inhumane to eat a cucumber or a tomato, and this is now. ”

Israel almost completely destroyed the Gaza Strip after more than two years of fighting, leaving it with a hunger crisis and widespread famine. According to the World Food Programme of the United Nations, supplies entering the besieged enclave do not meet the nutritional needs of the residents there. Because Israel has restricted deliveries and only two crossings into Palestinian territory are open, the aid entering the territory is significantly below its daily goal of 2,000 tonnes.

In a report released in the middle of October, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported that the Gaza Strip’s unemployment rate increased by 80% and the Palestinian unemployment rate increased by 50% during Israel’s occupation. Additionally, according to the bureau, Palestine has 550 000 unemployed people.

The Palestinian gross domestic product (GDP) had fallen to its 2010 level by the end of last year, according to a report from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), erasing 22 years of development in two years.

The Gaza Strip experienced economic growth before the war, with the opening of numerous commercial, tourist, and industrial projects, according to Maher Altabbaa, the director-general of the Gaza Governorate Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

However, the enclave’s GDP has decreased by 83 percent over the past year, or $ 362,0, over the course of two years, to $ 362,0. The world’s lowest GDP per person was $161, which is below the lowest level ever.

The private sector, which accounts for a sizable portion of Gaza’s GDP, has historically been its main economic engine.

According to Altabbaa, the agricultural sector’s main driver is “it is the main driver in the Gaza Strip, where it used to contribute more than 52% of employment, relying on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the backbone,” adding that the Gaza Strip contributed about 17% of the Palestinian GDP.

Since Israel imposed a land, sea, and air blockade in 2007, the Strip’s economy wasn’t as strong as it was even before October 2023.

Prior to this war, more than 63 percent of the population was in poverty, according to some local Palestinian estimates, and the British government estimated that about 80% of the population was already dependent on humanitarian aid.

According to the government of Gaza, 90% of all industries, including housing and infrastructure, have already been destroyed. However, it claimed that it intends to stabilize the economy and create jobs, but that will depend on several factors.

According to Ismail al-Thawabta, the head of the Gaza Government Media Office, “Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are best positioned to absorb the workforce in the short term, and regulating the market and preventing monopolies resulting from import restrictions, which have resulted in sharp price distortions and high inflation rates,” the economy lost total $70 billion.

In addition to creating an accurate economic database to aid decision-making and the development of upcoming economic policies, we want to create productive projects, not just relief efforts, as well as temporary and emergency employment programs targeting youths, graduates, and affected workers, he said. He claimed that reopening all border crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip would allow for the free movement of raw materials, production inputs, and spare parts.

According to him, “the key productive sectors [industry, agriculture, and services] must be reestablished as the true path to reducing reliance on aid” and “industry, agriculture, and services” must be restored.

Israel has yet to implement the United States president’ ceasefire and peace plan, and the second phase of that plan is still a mystery.

However, it is obvious that Gaza will need to recover economically and emerge from the brink of war.

Alzanin and his wife Mariam, who are three months along, are now receiving some food but still don’t have any money.

We consume hot meals and feel satisfied after arriving at the camp, but because it is not nutritious, Mariam continued, adding that she still wants to buy food she cannot afford.

We can’t get everything for the children because we see everything in the markets; They claim that because we only want bananas, apples, fish, and eggs, we get tiny portions that are not enough for them.

After declaring that the US would “run” Venezuela following the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro, US President Donald Trump claims Maria Corina Machado’s opposition leader lacks the support and respect needed to run the nation. The Nobel Peace Prize was given to Machado, who also attributed it in part to Trump.