Politics
US troops deploy toward Venezuela amid Trump’s opposition to Maduro
The Pentagon said the B‑1s launched from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas and flew over the Caribbean Sea toward Venezuela as part of routine training exercises.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the flights occurred near Venezuelan shores but did not say whether the aircraft entered Venezuelan airspace.
The B‑1 Lancer capable of carrying the largest weapons payload in the U.S. Air Force, including long‑range cruise missiles joins a broader U.S. buildup in the region.
U.S. military activity has intensified since September, when American forces began striking vessels they say were used for drug trafficking near Venezuelan waters, an action President Donald Trump has cited publicly.
Last week, B‑52 Stratofortress bombers also patrolled the area, escorted by Marine Corps F‑35B stealth fighters based in Puerto Rico; the Pentagon described those flights as a demonstration of bomber strike capability.
When asked whether the B‑1 flights were intended to pressure Venezuela, President Trump replied: “It’s false, but we’re not happy with Venezuela for a lot of reasons. Drugs being one of them.”
Currently, eight U.S. warships are deployed in the Caribbean Basin, supported by a P‑8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, MQ‑9 Reaper drones, an F‑35 squadron and a submarine operating near South American waters.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said U.S. forces have conducted nine airstrikes as part of an anti‑narcotics campaign, resulting in at least 37 reported deaths. He compared the operations to the post‑9/11 war on terror, warning: “We will find you, we will map your networks, we will hunt you down, and we will kill you.”
US Southern Command, which oversees Latin America and the Caribbean, is forming a task force for drug interdiction in the Western Hemisphere. This group appears set to handle the situation in Venezuela.
Covert CIA operation
The Trump administration has secretly authorized the CIA to conduct covert action in Venezuela, according to US officials, stepping up a campaign against President Nicolás Maduro, the country’s authoritarian leader, reported News York Times on Friday.
The authorization is the latest step in the Trump administration’s intensifying pressure campaign against Venezuela.
For weeks, the US military has been targeting boasts off the Venezuelan coast it says are transporting drugs, killing 27 people.
American officials have been clear, privately, that the end goal is to driver Mr Maduro from power.
Trump acknowledged on Wednesday that he had authorized the covert action and said the United States was considering strikes on Venezuelan territory.
“We are certainly looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” the president told reporters hours after The New York Times reported the secret authorization.
Any strikes on Venezuelan territory would be a significant escalation. After several of the boat strikes, the administration made the point that the operations had taken place in international waters.
The new authority would allow the CIA to carry out lethal operations in Venezuela and conduct a range of operations in the Caribbean.
The agency would be able to take covert action against Mr Maduro or his government either unilaterally or in conjunction with a larger military operation.
It is not known whether the CIA is planning any specific operations in Venezuela.
But the development comes as the US military is planning its own possible escalation, drawing up options for President Trump to consider, including strikes inside Venezuela.
The scale of the military buildup in the region is substantial: There are currently 10,000 U.S. troops there, most of them at bases in Puerto Rico, but also a contingent of Marines on amphibious assault ships. In all, the Navy has eight surface warships and a submarine in the Caribbean.
The new authorities, known in intelligence jargon as a presidential finding, were described by multiple US officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the highly classified document.
‘No crazy war, please!’
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday launched a plea in English as tensions mount between Washington and Caracas: “No crazy war, please!”
Maduro’s comment came after US President Donald Trump said he had authorized covert action against the South American nation, and amid an escalating US military campaign against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific.
“Yes peace, yes peace forever, peace forever. No crazy war, please!” Maduro said in a meeting with unions aligned with the leftist leader, a former bus driver and union leader.
The United States has deployed stealth warplanes and Navy ships as part of what it calls anti-narcotics efforts, but has yet to release evidence that its targets eight boats and a semi-submersible were smuggling drugs.
The US strikes, which began on September 2, have killed at least 37 people, according to an AFP tally based on US figures.
Regional tensions have flared as a result of the campaign, with Maduro accusing Washington of seeking regime change.
Late Thursday, the government in Trinidad and Tobago located just off Venezuela’s coast announced that a US warship would dock in its capital from October 26-30.
The Trinidadian foreign ministry said a unit of US Marines would conduct joint exercises with its defense forces.
Two of those killed in the US strikes were from Trinidad and Tobago.
Last week, Trump said he had authorized covert CIA action against Venezuela and was considering strikes against alleged drug cartels on land.
The Republican billionaire president accuses Maduro of heading a drug cartel, a charge the Venezuelan leader denies.
“We know the CIA is present” in Venezuela, the country’s defense minister Vladimir Padrino said Thursday.
“They may deploy — I don’t know how many — CIA-affiliated units in covert operations…and any attempt will fail.”
Padrino was overseeing military exercises along Venezuela’s coast in response to the US military deployment in the Caribbean.
Experts have questioned the legality of using lethal force in foreign or international waters against suspects who have not been intercepted or questioned.
DUBAI: Unidentified attackers hijacked an oil tanker on Saturday off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden and directed it towards Somalia, the Yemeni coast guard said.
According to the agency, the tanker EUREKA was seized off Yemen’s Shabwa province by a group who “boarded, took control of it, then steered it… in the direction of the Somali coast”.
The coast guard, which is affiliated with Yemen’s internationally recognised government, vowed to investigate the attack.
“The location of the tanker has been determined, and work is under way to monitor it and take the necessary measures in an attempt to recover it and ensure the safety of its crew,” it said, without identifying the crew’s numbers or nationality.
According to the website Marine Traffic, the EUREKA is a Togolese-flagged oil products tanker that was reported to have been in the UAE port of Fujairah in late March.
Piracy was rampant off the coast of Somalia in the 2000s, peaking in 2011 with hundreds of attacks, but was significantly reduced by international naval deployments and new tactics by commercial shipping.
But in recent weeks attacks have increased again, according to a report by the European Union naval mission deployed off the shores of the troubled east African country.
Operation Atalanta, the EU’s naval force for Somalia, monitored three attacks in late April, according to its information service, the Maritime Security Centre Indian Ocean (MSCIO).
Since February 28, shipping in the region has also been disrupted by the US-Israeli war against Iran, but there was no immediate indication that Saturday’s hijacking was linked to the conflict.
Last month, a tanker was captured in the Gulf of Aden by a new group of pirates operating from the port town of Garacad in the Puntland state of northeastern Somalia, a local security official told AFP.
- Contract supports APG-66 and APG-68 radar systems.
- Work to be completed by March 2036.
- Includes multiple allies under foreign military sales plan.
The United States Air Force has contracted Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. in a $488 million deal to provide engineering and technical support for F-16 radar systems under its Foreign Military Sales programme, with Pakistan among the beneficiary countries.
According to an official award notice issued by the US Department of War, the firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract covers support for F-16 System Programme Office Foreign Military Sales (FMS) as well as Air Force and Navy requirements.
The contract includes engineering and technical support for APG-66 and APG-68 radar systems. The work will be carried out at Linthicum Heights, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2036.
The contract involves foreign military sales to multiple countries, including Bahrain, Belgium, Chile, Denmark, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Korea, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Thailand and Türkiye.
The US Air Force said the contract was awarded on a sole-source basis. Fiscal 2026 non-appropriated, Air Force and Navy funds amounting to $2,644,922 have been obligated at the time of the award.
The Air Force Lifecycle Management Centre at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting authority for the agreement, which was awarded on April 27, 2026.
The development comes months after the United States, in December 2025, approved the sale of advanced technology and support services worth $686 million for Pakistan’s F-16 fighter aircraft fleet.
According to a letter from the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) to Congress dated December 8, the package covers Link-16 data link systems, cryptographic gear, avionics upgrades, training, and wide-ranging logistical support.
The DSCA says the decision aligns with Washington’s broader strategic aims, stating the sale “will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by allowing Pakistan to retain interoperability with US and partner forces in ongoing counterterrorism efforts and in preparation for future contingency operations.”
The letter notes that the upgrades are intended to modernise Pakistan’s Block-52 and Mid-Life Upgrade F-16s and address operational safety requirements. According to the letter, the sale will “maintain Pakistan’s capability to meet current and future threats by updating and refurbishing its Block-52 and Mid Life Upgrade F-16 fleet.”
- US approves of sales to Qatar, UAE, Kuwait and Israel.
- US govt says emergency exists to waive congressional review.
- Washington faces scrutiny for military ties with Kuwait, UAE, Qatar.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has bypassed congressional review to approve military sales totaling over $8.6 billion to Middle Eastern allies Israel, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
The State Department announcements on Friday came as the US and Israel’s war against Iran marked nine weeks since its start and more than three weeks since a fragile ceasefire came into effect.
The State Department said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio determined that an emergency existed that required immediate sales to those countries and waived the congressional review requirements for the sales.
The announcements included approving military sales to Qatar of Patriot air and missile defence replenishment services costing $4.01 billion and of Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems (APKWS) costing $992.4 million.
The principal contractor in the APKWS sales to Qatar, Israel and the UAE was BAE Systems, the State Department said.
RTX and Lockheed Martin were the principal contractors in the integrated battle command system sale to Kuwait and in the Patriot air and missile defense replenishment sale to Qatar, the State Department added.
Northrop Grumman was also a principal contractor in the Kuwaiti sale.
Over the years, Washington has faced scrutiny for military ties with Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar over those countries’ human rights track records that rights advocates say involve restrictions on and reported abuses of minorities, journalists, voices of dissent, the LGBT community and labourers.
Those nations have denied supporting or engaging in domestic rights abuses.
US support for Israel has also come under scrutiny from rights experts, particularly over Israel’s assault on Gaza that has killed tens of thousands, caused a hunger crisis and led to assessments of genocide from scholars and a UN inquiry.
Israel calls its actions self-defence after Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people in an October 2023 attack.
Washington has maintained support for its allies.
5/2: Saturday Morning – CBS News
Oil tanker hijacked off Yemen, diverted towards Somalia: Yemen coast guard
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