Trump confirms first strike on Venezuelan soil in escalation of military operations
The strike is believed to be the first on Venezuelan soil in Trump's operations aimed at stopping the flow of drugs
Donald Trump has claimed that the US bombed a Venezuelan dock for the first time last week in an escalation of operations against the state.
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During a press conference on Friday, the US President said that American forces had "knocked out" a "big plant" in the South American nation.
He told reporters: “We just knocked out – I don’t know if you read or you saw – they have a big plant, or a big facility, where the ships come from.
"Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard."
Elaborating on Monday, Mr Trump said: “Well, it doesn’t matter. But there was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs. We hit the area.”
Speaking after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the president added: “So we hit all the boats and now we hit the implementation area… where they implement and that’s no longer around.”
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Mr Trump has presided over several controversial strikes on ships he says are trafficking drugs across the Caribbean Sea.
This is understood to be the first time he has struck Venezulan soil directly.
Since the hostilities began, there has been a massive military build-up around Venezuela.
While not acknowledging the build-up as a blockade, the US has confirmed that around 15,000 personnel are positioned across the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, including a carrier strike group, F-35s and Coast Guard cutters.
The Venezuelan government has not commented on the incident.