Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
Donald Trump has appeared to casually confirm what would mark the first known US land strike inside Venezuela, signaling a significant escalation in Washington’s months-long military campaign against alleged drug trafficking networks linked to the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
Speaking during a low-profile radio interview on December 26, the US president suggested that American forces struck a facility on Venezuelan soil on Christmas Eve. The remarks, made during a call-in on New York’s WABC radio, drew little immediate attention but carry potentially far-reaching geopolitical implications.
“I don’t know if you read or you saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where they send the … where the ships come from,” Trump said during the interview. “Two nights ago we knocked that out, so we hit them very hard.”
The comments appeared to confirm that US operations have moved beyond maritime interdictions in the Caribbean and Atlantic and onto Venezuelan territory itself. For months, Trump has publicly argued that naval strikes against suspected drug vessels were insufficient, repeatedly stating that land-based targets would be “much easier” and that such operations would begin “very soon.”
If confirmed, the strike would represent a major shift in US policy toward Venezuela, where direct military action on land has long been viewed as a red line due to the risk of regional escalation.
The administration has framed the campaign as part of an aggressive response to drug trafficking routes that US officials say are responsible for a surge in overdose deaths at home. Since early September, US forces have reportedly conducted dozens of strikes against suspected drug-smuggling boats, resulting in more than 100 deaths, according to figures cited by US officials.
Trump has repeatedly described Venezuela under Maduro as a “narco regime,” accusing senior officials of facilitating large-scale cocaine trafficking. The president has also openly urged Maduro to step aside, though he has stopped short of explicitly stating that US military action is intended to force regime change.
The precise target Trump referenced in his interview remains unclear. He did not specify which branch of the US military was involved or where the strike allegedly took place. However, shortly after Christmas, video footage circulated on social media showing a large fire and explosions in Venezuela’s Zulia state, near Maracaibo, the country’s second-largest city.
The incident occurred in the municipality of San Francisco, along the western shore of the strait connecting Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela, a region long associated with oil infrastructure and smuggling routes.
Local journalist Jhorman Cruz posted video of the blaze in the early hours of December 24 but later cautioned against drawing premature conclusions. In follow-up posts, Cruz said residents reported no sightings of drones, foreign personnel, or unusual military activity and emphasized that the cause of the fire remained unknown.
“It is prudent to say that we still do not know what started the fire,” Cruz wrote, urging caution against speculation.
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon offered immediate clarification when asked about Trump’s remarks, leaving uncertainty over whether the president was referencing a confirmed US military operation, an allied action, or an intelligence-driven covert strike.
Trump’s comments nonetheless fit a broader pattern of increasingly confrontational rhetoric toward Caracas. Over the past year, Washington has tightened sanctions, increased military presence in surrounding waters, and publicly linked Venezuela’s leadership to organized crime networks.
While previous US actions have largely focused on interdiction at sea, analysts have warned that land strikes, even limited ones could provoke retaliation, destabilize neighboring countries, and deepen Venezuela’s already severe humanitarian crisis.
For now, the lack of official confirmation has left allies, adversaries, and observers parsing the president’s words. But Trump’s offhand assertion that “we knocked that out” suggests that the conflict between Washington and Caracas may have already entered a new and more dangerous phase, even if few beyond a radio audience noticed at the time.
