AhlulBayt News Agency: Tensions between Venezuela and the United States have risen sharply after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that ground operations targeting what he described as drug-trafficking networks in Venezuela would begin “very soon.”
According to IRNA, speaking at the White House on Saturday, Trump hinted that the forthcoming operations could include ground assaults, although he did not offer any details about how or when such actions would take place.
Harsh rhetoric toward Caracas has intensified since Trump deployed warships and fighter jets to the Caribbean and authorized attacks on Venezuelan vessels under the stated aim of combating drug cartels—moves the Venezuelan government has condemned as hegemonic and provocative.
Trump has repeatedly defended the strikes and blamed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for issues ranging from migration flows to narcotics smuggling. “We know where they live. We know where the bad ones are, and we’re going to start that very soon,” he told reporters after a cabinet meeting earlier in the week.
As U.S. naval operations continue, Trump’s suggestion of a possible ground incursion has heightened concerns about the region’s refugee and migrant situation. Research by the Niskanen Center warns that such actions could trigger the deportation of three to four million Venezuelan immigrants currently living in the United States.
On Wednesday, Trump also claimed that the military operation had already saved “thousands of American lives,” offering no evidence and once again disregarding lawmakers’ demands for the complete, unedited release of footage from the first strike carried out on September 2.
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