Trump claims attack on a dock in Venezuela; US strikes kill two in Pacific

Donald Trump, the first land attack by US forces in Venezuela since Washington’s four-month-long pressure campaign, claimed an attack on a dock he claimed was used to “load up boats with drugs.”

At least two people were killed in a subsequent strike on an alleged drug boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean as a result of the announcement on Monday.

Trump claimed that the US had struck a facility where boats are loaded up when he first mentioned the strike in Venezuela in a radio interview on Friday and later in a question to reporters in the country about an explosion.

Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida and reported that there had been a “major explosion” in the dock area where they loaded the boats with drugs. They “load the boats up with drugs,” so we hit the area as a result. The implementation area is it. That is where they put into practice. And that has vanished.

Trump declined to specify whether the CIA or the US military carried out the strike on the dock or where it took place.

“I am aware of who it was, but I have no desire to reveal who it was.” But, he said, “You know, it was along the shore.”

Venezuela did not respond to the attack immediately, and there haven’t been any independent reports about a US attack in Venezuela.

The Trump administration’s push to confront Venezuela comes as part of a wider effort to stop what the president claims are drug-smuggling operations that are bound for the US.

Caracas denies any involvement in drug trafficking and asserts that Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest in the world, are being seized by Washington as a result of his administration’s attempt to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro.

Following months of military exercises in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean, US actions appear to be a step closer to shore-based strikes.

At least 107 people have died in the attacks since early September, according to data released by the Trump administration.

Legal scholars and human rights organizations have referred to the strikes as extrajudicial killings  and that they are generally regarded as illegal under both US and international law.

The latest victims of its Monday strikes were “two male narco-terrorists,” according to the US Southern Command, and their ship was engaged in “narco-trafficking operations.”

More than 15, 000 soldiers are stationed in the area as part of a US military exercise that Trump has ordered to stop sanctioned vessels from entering and leaving Venezuela.

Trump has suggested for months that US land attacks in South America, particularly those in Venezuela, could be expanded, and he has just stated that the country will start attacking land “soon” rather than boats.

Trump stated in October that he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela. Trump’s comments on Monday were not addressed by the organization.