News Beat
How US forces captured Maduro after raiding safe house in ‘matter of seconds’ as ‘Operation Absolute Resolve’ revealed
COMMANDOS from US special forces obliterated air defence systems to raid Nicolas Maduro’s fortified safe house in a stunning military operation inside Venezuela.
Operation Absolute Resolve unfolded under the cover of darkness when some 150 military aircraft, including fighter jets, bombers and reconnaissance planes, took off from 20 military bases and Navy ships.
In a series of fast-moving events, Caracas was rocked by explosions, accompanied by the sound of attack helicopters.
The strikes, which targeted a major military base and an airbase, among other sites, continued for nearly an hour.
And within moments, dictator Maduro – who has been the country’s leader for the past 12 years – was bundled into a military chopper along with his wife and sent back to the US.
The extraordinary operation began between midnight and 1am Caracas time when the American strike force began moving into positions “during the darkest hours”.
At around 2am, multiple explosions were heard across Caracas, and plumes of smoke were seen rising over the city.
General Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the fighter jets including F22 Raptors, F-35 stealth fighters, and Navy F-18 Hornets were deployed in Venezuela to wipe out the country’s air defences.
Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex situated in Caracas, and Carlota airbase in the north were among the targets of the strikes.
La Guaira, north of the capital, where Caracas’ airport and port are located, was also struck.
Tomahawk missiles fired from US Navy destroyers also took out Russian long-range S-300 surface-to-air (SAM) missile batteries and shorter-range Pechora and Pantsir missile emplacements operated by Cubans, sources told The Sun.
Meanwhile, Electronic warfare Growler aircraft jammed radar systems, blacking out communications and paralysing power grids throughout Venezuela, they added.
All this was done to clear the way for the US Air Force 160 Special Operations Regiment’s fleet of MH-60 (Black Hawk variant) and MH-47 (Chinook variant), equipped for high-risk infiltration and extraction missions.
The choppers, carrying Delta, and possibly SEAL teams, flew off the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier and a special forces vessel known as “Ghost Ship”.
The naval assets have been sailing close to Venezuela for weeks after the US mobilised the biggest military buildup since the Iraq war.
As the US strike force provided air cover, radar and thermal night vision allowed the choppers to manoeuvre at low altitudes through the mountain valleys surrounding the city.
They soon landed the US Army’s Delta Force and FBI agents who stormed Venezuela’s main army headquarters in the heart of Caracas.
Between 2am-2.30am, US special forces raided Maduro’s residence inside a heavily fortified military complex.
Instantly disembarking and abseiling onto rooftops, Delta teams fired flash bangs to stun Venezuelan troops guarding the complex.
They then took out Maduro’s inner ring of bodyguards composed of Cuba’s much-feared Avispas Negras special forces, with bursts of HK416 assault rifles whose firing speeds exceeded 800 rounds per minute.
The troops were taken by surprise when the Americans burst in.
The special forces then made their way through the compound and entered Maduro’s room.
General Cain said Maduro and his wife tried to escape into a steel-reinforced room, but were stopped by the American forces.
Trump said US troops created a replica of Maduro’s safe house and practised how they would enter the strongly fortified residence.
They were able to penetrate through the defensive layers in the compound in a matter of seconds, the US president added.
Maduro and his wife were then loaded on a Chinook helicopter and around 4.29am they were transferred to the USS Iwo Jima, a warship in the Caribbean.
At his Saturday press conference, Trump spoke of a planned “second wave” that was held back.
More special forces teams were on standby to reinforce Delta and possibly go after secondary targets if they failed to get Maduro or Caracas managed to pull off a counterattack
But Trump said that he remains ready to “stage a second wave of much larger attacks” if necessary.
“All of the Venezuelan military and politicians should understand that what happened to Maduro can happen to them,” he said.
The US president even hinted at a permanent troop presence, saying “we are going to stay and run the country until we have a safe and judicial transition”.
General Caine said that interagency work on the attack “began months ago and was built on decades of experience of integrating complex air, ground, space, and maritime operations”.
Months of air surveillance by satellites and Reaper drones flying at high altitudes were also required to map out Venezuela’s air defences and installations.
The CIA had a small team on the ground starting in August who were able to provide insight into Maduro’s pattern of life that made grabbing him seamless, according to one source familiar with the matter.
Two other sources said the intelligence agency also had an asset close to Maduro who would monitor his movements and was poised to pinpoint his exact location as the operation unfolded.
The CIA, NSA, and National Crime Agency (NCA) cooperated for this “meticulously planned” operation, General Caine said.
On Saturday evening, Maduro was pictured flanked by FBI agents as he arrived on US soil with his wife.
Footage showed a US federal airplane carrying the Venezuelan dictator and his wife Cilia Flores arriving at the Stewart Air National Guard Base in New York.
Maduro was seen being led in custody by dozens of FBI agents before his scheduled court appearance at Manhattan federal court.
He has been hit with narco-terrorism and weapons-related charges – and will now face a trial in New York.
Venezuelans had for months been bracing for attacks on their territory, following repeated threats by Trump to escalate his campaign against Maduro’s administration.
Trump has consistently framed Venezuela under Maduro as an illegitimate regime, accusing it of operating as a narco-state aligned with US adversaries.
The US president had long threatened that he could order military strikes on targets in Venezuelan territory after months of attacks on boats accused of carrying drugs from the South American country.
The White House said Washington was in armed conflict with drug cartels to halt the flow of narcotics into the United States, while US officials alleged that Maduro supported the international drug trade.
Before the escalation, there had been 35 known strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in South American waters since early September that killed at least 115 people, according to announcements from the Republican administration.
A regime change in Caracas has been central to Trump’s view that Venezuela’s political reset is necessary to curb Russian and Chinese influence and unlock the country’s vast oil potential.
Politically, Venezuela now faces a fragile transition period.
The removal of Maduro, who led Venezuela with a heavy hand for more than 12 years, potentially opens a power vacuum in the Latin American country.
