US Strikes Venezuela’s Caracas, Planes Seen Amid Multiple Explosions

3rd January 2026 at 4:22 PM

1 minute read

Airplanes roared overhead and explosions shook the streets of Caracas early Saturday, with a thick plume of smoke rising over the Venezuelan capital as power went out near a major military base.

New Delhi : Airplanes roared overhead and explosions shook the streets of Caracas early Saturday, with a thick plume of smoke rising over the Venezuelan capital as power went out near a major military base. Even some US officials have confirmed to Reuters that they are carrying out strikes inside the South American country.

At least seven explosions were heard and low-lying aircraft were spotted as residents in various neighbourhoods rushed to the streets. Videos doing rounds on social media captured the moment blasts hit the city. Explosions with aircraft flying overhead were reported at Venezuela’s main military fort, Fort Tiuna, west of the city of Caracas and at the La Carlota military base, reported the Spanish national news agency EFE. The whole ground shook. This is horrible. We heard explosions and planes in the distance. We felt like the air was hitting us,” Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened ground operations in Venezuela as part of efforts to push President Nicolas Maduro from office, stepping up sanctions, increasing military presence in the region, and targeting over two dozen vessels accused of drug trafficking in the Caribbean and Pacific. Soon after its capital city was rocked by explosions, President Nicolas Maduro rejected the “military aggression” by the Trump administration, declaring a national emergency in the country.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela rejects, repudiates, and denounces before the international community the extremely serious military aggression perpetrated by the current Government of the United States of America. This act constitutes a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations,” the Venezuelan government said in an official statement. The objective of this attack is none other than to seize Venezuela’s strategic resources, particularly its oil and minerals, attempting to forcibly break the nation’s political independence. They will not succeed,” it added.