Washington (TNND) — President Donald Trump indicated the United States carried out a strike on a dock facility along Venezuela’s shoreline as part of his administration’s escalating pressure campaign tied to drug trafficking, though officials have released few details about the operation, according to the Associated Press.
Speaking with reporters Monday, Trump referenced what he described as a “major explosion” at a location where boats accused of smuggling drugs were loaded.
Trump says US hit an alleged drug boat dock in Venezuela
“There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said while meeting in Florida with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “So we hit all the boats and now we hit the area and that is no longer around.”
Trump declined to say who carried out the strike or where it occurred, and did not explicitly confirm it took place in Venezuela.
“I know exactly who it was, but I don’t want to say who it was,” Trump said. “But you know it was along the shore.”
The comments follow remarks Trump made Friday during a call-in interview on WABC radio, where he appeared to confirm a strike on a shore-based facility tied to alleged drug smuggling operations.
“I don’t know if you read or saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where the ships come from,” Trump said. “Two nights ago, we knocked that out.”
The Trump administration has intensified efforts to target what it says are drug-smuggling boats headed toward the United States. Those operations have largely taken place in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, but Trump has increasingly suggested strikes could move closer to shore or onto land.
At least 105 people have been killed in 29 known strikes on boats since early September, according to public reports.
In past cases, the Defense Department or U.S. military social media accounts have announced maritime strikes publicly, but there has been no announcement regarding a strike on a shore facility.
The Pentagon referred questions Monday to the White House, which did not immediately respond to requests for additional information. Venezuela’s government also did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump has repeatedly floated the possibility of land-based strikes in South America, including Venezuela. In October, he confirmed authorizing the CIA to conduct covert operations in the country. The agency did not comment Monday.
Alongside the strikes, the U.S. has increased its military presence in the region, deployed warships, and seized two oil tankers while pursuing a third.
The administration has said it considers itself in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels and is seeking to stop the flow of narcotics into the United States.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused the U.S. of using the operations as a pretext to try to remove him from power.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in a recent Vanity Fair interview that Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro ‘cries uncle.’”
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The Associated Press Contributed to this reporting.
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