Washington DC [US], December 3 : After repeated US air strikes on the boats of alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers in the Caribbean, President Donald Trump said that America will "very soon" begin striking "bad ones" living inside Venezuela.
Trump's comments during Tuesday's cabinet meeting hint at further escalation between Washington and Caracas.
"We're going to start doing those strikes on land too. Land is much easier; we know where they live. We know where the bad ones live, and we're going to start that very soon." Trump said during the cabinet meeting.
Trump's remarks come after his administration came under heavy scrutiny over its conduct in offensive targeting the alleged drug-trafficking boats, killing more than 80 people so far.
Trump, in the meeting, defended War Secretary Pete Hegseth and said that neither he nor the War Secretary knew about the second strike on the suspected drug vessel. The US military had carried out a follow-up strike on a suspected drug vessel operating in the Caribbean on September 2 after an initial attack did not kill everyone on board.
"I didn't know about the second strike. I didn't know anything about people. I wasn't involved, and I knew they took out a boat, but I would say this, they had a strike," Trump said.
The President said that Hegseth "was satisfied" with the strike but "didn't know about a second attack, having to do with two people."
Hegseth, in his defence, stated that he watched the "first strike live" but then "moved on to my next meeting."
War Secretary further said that he learned about the second strike "a couple of hours later." and did not see any "survivors"
"A couple of hours later, I learned. I did not personally see survivors because that thing was on fire. It's called the fog of war," Hegseth said.
The White House has stated that Admiral Frank M "Mitch" Bradley, commander of the US Special Operations Command, had given the order of the second strike.
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