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Analysis-Trump bombs Venezuelan soil for the first time: Is war imminent?

2026-01-03 13:54:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The US president said today that the attack in Venezuela targeted a pier that is suspected of being used to load ships with narcotics.

Tensions between Washington and Caracas have risen sharply since September, when the Trump administration began a series of attacks on Venezuelan ships in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, which the US government alleges are trafficking drugs.

However, despite airstrikes on the ships, which have killed at least 100 people, the US has not presented evidence of drug trafficking.

Recently, US forces have seized Venezuelan oil tankers, which it claims are transporting sanctioned oil, and have ordered a naval blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers near the coast.

Caracas has long accused Washington of using drug trafficking charges as a pretext to force regime change in Venezuela, raising new concerns about the legality of such actions and the risk of broader conflict. Indeed, legal experts say targeting ships in international waters likely violates U.S. and international law and amounts to extrajudicial executions.

What happened?

During a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump took the opportunity to announce that US forces had struck a Venezuelan port. US media cited sources familiar with the operation who claimed that the attack was carried out by the CIA.

Following Trump's announcement, the US military also announced in a tweet that it had carried out another attack on a ship in the eastern Pacific, killing two more people. It did not specify where exactly the attack took place.

Analysis-Trump bombs Venezuelan soil for the first time: Is war imminent?

Why is Trump waging a campaign against Venezuela?

Relations between Washington and Caracas have been tense for decades, shaped by a long history of US military intervention in Latin American countries.

Tensions deepened in the late 1990s under Venezuela's left-wing president, Hugo Chavez, largely due to the nationalization of foreign-owned oil assets that the US claimed its companies had invested in and built, and worsened further after his successor, Nicolas Maduro, took power in 2013.

Tensions have escalated in recent months as a result of a U.S. military campaign targeting suspected Venezuelan drug smugglers. The Trump administration claims that drug trafficking in the U.S. constitutes a national emergency, but numerous reports have shown that Venezuela is not a major source of drugs being transported across the border.

Since September, Washington has carried out more than two dozen attacks in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, killing more than 100 people, accusing the Maduro government of being involved in flooding the US with drugs.

The Trump administration has not provided evidence of drug trafficking or legal justification for the operations, fueling claims that it is more interested in controlling oil in the region and forcing regime change in Venezuela.

The attacks have been accompanied by the largest US show of force in the region in decades, including the deployment of the world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, F-35 jets and approximately 15,000 troops. Trump has also previously warned of possible "ground" attacks. Caracas has rejected US accusations of drug trafficking, condemning its actions as "illegal" under international law and a violation of Venezuelan sovereignty.

The Venezuelan government claims that Washington is using drugs as a pretext for regime change and to confiscate the country's oil wealth.

Furthermore, United Nations human rights experts have condemned the partial naval blockade, considering it an illegal armed aggression against Venezuela, while calling on the US Congress to intervene.

Analysis-Trump bombs Venezuelan soil for the first time: Is war imminent?

Will this attack lead to an imminent war with Venezuela?

Caracas-based analyst Elias Ferrer of Orinoco Research said that if the US did in fact strike Venezuelan territory, they would likely have violated international law unless the attack was approved in advance by the Maduro government, which may be possible in light of recent talks between the Venezuelan president and Trump last month.

Depending on the answer to this question, Ferrer said the incident could escalate or re-escalate the situation./Aljazeera