TODAY

Caracas, December 30, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has reportedly bombed a target inside Venezuelan territory.

According to CNN, citing “sources familiar with the matter,” the CIA carried out a drone strike against a “remote dock on the Venezuelan.” US officials allegedly believed the facility was being used for drug storage and shipping.

There was reportedly no one present on site during the attack, which is only specified to have taken place “earlier this month.” A New York Times report, likewise relying on anonymous sources, presented similar claims and added that the strike took place last Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump first alluded to a purported strike inside Venezuelan territory during an interview on Friday, claiming that US forces had destroyed a “big facility where ships come from” two days earlier. 

Trump elaborated on a Monday press conference, adding that the site was along the Venezuelan shore and that there was a “big explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs.”

US agencies have not confirmed the attack, with the CIA, the White House and the Pentagon refusing comment. Analysts relying on open source data tracked no signs of an explosion on the Venezuelan coast in recent days.

For its part, Venezuelan authorities have not released any statements on the matter.

If confirmed, the land strikes would mark a significant escalation in the US’ military campaign against Venezuela. Since August, the Trump administration has amassed the largest build-up in decades in the Caribbean and launched dozens of strikes against small boats accused of narcotics trafficking, killing over 100 civilians in the process.

Trump has repeatedly vowed to bomb purported drug targets inside Venezuelan territory while escalating regime change threats against the Nicolás Maduro government. The White House allegedly approved lethal CIA operations in the country in October.

Despite recurrent “narcoterrorism” accusations against Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan officials, Washington has not provided court-tested evidence to back the claims. Specialized agencies have consistently shown Venezuela to play a marginal role in global drug trafficking.

In recent weeks, Trump has turned his discourse toward Venezuelan oil, claiming that the Caribbean nation had “stolen” oil rights from US corporations during nationalization processes in the 2000s and 1970s. 

The US president ordered a naval blockade against Venezuelan oil exports, with US forces seizing two oil tankers carrying Venezuelan crude in international waters earlier this month. A third vessel reportedly refused to be boarded and headed toward the Atlantic Ocean. According to Reuters, US forces have been ordered to enforce a “quarantine” of Venezuelan oil in the next two months in order to exacerbate the South American country’s economic struggles. 

A group of UN experts issued a statement on December 24 condemning the US’ maritime blockade as “violating fundamental rules of international law.”

“The illegal use of force, and threats to use further force at sea and on land, gravely endanger the human right to life and other rights in Venezuela and the region,” the experts affirmed, while urging UN member-states to take measures to stop the blockade and the vessel bombings.

The attempted blockade builds on widespread US economic sanctions, particularly targeting the Venezuelan oil industry, the country’s most important revenue source. US coercive measures have been classified as “collective punishment” and found responsible for tens of thousands of civilian deaths.

For its part, the Maduro government has condemned US “acts of piracy” in capturing oil tankers and blasted the Trump administration’s actions as blatant attempts to seize Venezuela’s natural resources.

Caracas has received diplomatic backing from its main allies, with China and Russia both condemning Washington’s military escalations as violations of international law. However, a recent UN Security Council meeting convened by Venezuela produced no resolutions.

The intensity of the current backlash against Alaa Abdelfattah in Britain is striking – not because it reflects a renewed concern for justice, but because it exposes how selectively outrage is deployed.

Alaa, an Egyptian-British writer and activist, spent more than a decade in and out of Egyptian prisons following the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak. His detention was marked by prolonged hunger strikes, denial of basic rights and treatment that human rights organisations described as cruel and degrading. He was released on September 23 after a years-long campaign by his mother, sister and close friends. A travel ban on him was lifted only this month, and he was able to join his family in the UK on December 26.

Alaa left behind a decade of repression in Cairo only to be welcomed in London with public attacks and a call for the revocation of his British citizenship and his deportation. Public hostility was whipped up by the uncovering of a social media post from 2010 in which Alaa said he considered “killing any colonialists … heroic”, including Zionists.

The tweet has been widely condemned, referred to the counter-terrorism police for review, and seized upon by politicians calling for punitive measures.

The speed and intensity of this reaction stand in stark contrast to the silence surrounding far more consequential statements and actions that the UK not only tolerates but actively enables.

This is what selective outrage looks like.

While Alaa’s words are dissected and framed as a moral emergency, the UK continues to host and collaborate with senior Israeli officials who have been accused of participating in and inciting genocide.

In July, for example, Israel’s air force chief Tomer Bar – the man who has overseen the carpet bombing of Gaza, destruction of hospitals, schools and homes and the extermination of entire families – was granted special legal immunity to visit the UK. Reporting by Declassified UK showed that this immunity shielded him from arrest for war crimes while on British soil.

There has been no comparable outcry over this.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog was also able to pay a visit to the UK in September and hold high-level meetings. This is the same man who, at the start of the genocide, suggested that the “entire [Palestinian] nation” is responsible and that “This rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved – it’s not true.” This and other statements by Herzog have been collected in a large database that currently supports the genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Yet, despite being accused of incitement to genocide, the Israeli president entered the UK without a problem and was welcomed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Those quarters concerned about Alaa’s tweet displayed no outrage over the visit of a potential war criminal.

They have also been silent about British citizens who have travelled to serve in the Israeli military, including during Israel’s offensives in Gaza and the ongoing genocide. These operations, documented by the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have resulted in tens of thousands of civilian deaths, the destruction of hospitals and universities, and the devastation of entire neighbourhoods.

Despite extensive documentation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and the ICJ’s warning of a serious risk of genocide, there has been no systematic investigation into whether British nationals may have been involved in violations of international law.

Again, there is little sustained outrage.

At the same time, the UK continues to license arms exports to Israel and to engage in political, military and intelligence cooperation. These policies have persisted even as international bodies have warned of grave humanitarian consequences and potential violations of international law. All of this unfolds with relatively little political cost.

And yet it is a decade-old tweet – not mass killing, not siege, not the destruction of civilian life on a vast scale, not incitement to genocide – that triggers political panic in the UK.

This contrast is not incidental. It reveals a hierarchy of outrage in which dissenting voices are policed and punished, and state violence is not, and in which public hostility is directed downward at individuals rather than upward at power. Alaa’s case shows how moral language is deployed selectively – not to restrain impunity, but to manage discomfort.

This asymmetry corrodes the credibility of the principles the UK claims to uphold. When human rights are defended selectively, they become tools of convenience rather than universal norms. When outrage is loud but inconsistent, it becomes performative. And when accountability is withheld from powerful allies, impunity hardens into policy.

Those who defend this approach often invoke “quiet diplomacy”, arguing that restraint is more effective than confrontation. Yet there is little evidence that silence has delivered accountability – either for Alaa or for civilians subjected to mass violence in Gaza. In both cases, discretion has functioned less as a strategy than as permission.

The UK has the tools to act differently: Suspending arms exports, investigating potential crimes by its nationals, conditioning cooperation on respect for international law, restricting visits by officials implicated in serious abuses. That these tools remain largely unused is itself revealing.

Until that changes, outrage will remain selective, accountability conditional, and impunity intact – widening the gap between the values the UK professes and the violence it continues to enable.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Protests have erupted across Somalia following Israel’s formal world-first recognition of the breakaway region of Somaliland, with demonstrators taking to the streets in multiple cities, including the capital, Mogadishu.

On Tuesday morning, large crowds gathered at locations including Mogadishu’s main football stadium and around the city’s airport, where protesters waved Somali flags and chanted slogans calling for national unity.

The demonstrations, which also took place in Baidoa, Dhusamareb, Las Anod, Hobyo and Somalia’s northeastern regions, came as President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud travelled to Istanbul for talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan following a stop in neighbouring Djibouti.

Somalia and Turkiye have close political and security ties, with Ankara emerging as a regional rival to Israel in recent months.

Small gatherings also took place in Borama, a city in western Somaliland, where the population has appeared more ambivalent about separation from Somalia, to express opposition.

Somaliland unilaterally declared independence in 1991 following a civil war, but has failed to gain international recognition despite maintaining its own currency, passport and army.

Somaliland’s leaders say the state is the successor to the former British protectorate, which voluntarily merged with Italian Somaliland and has now reclaimed its independence. Somalia continues to claim Somaliland as part of its territory and does not recognise its independence.

Israel became the first and only country to formally recognise it as a sovereign state last Friday, describing the move as being in the spirit of the Abraham Accords that normalised ties between Israel and several Arab nations.

President Mohamud urged Somaliland’s leadership over the weekend to reverse the decision, warning that its territory, overlooking the strategic gateway to the Red Sea, must not be used as a base for targeting other nations.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have said any Israeli presence in Somaliland would be considered “a military target for our armed forces”.

Shortly after Somaliland announced mutual recognition with Israel on Friday, President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi said the move “is not a threat, not an act of hostility” towards any state, and warned that Somalia’s insistence on unified institutions risks “prolonging divisions rather than healing” them.

The widespread public anger in Somalia reflects a rare show of political unity, where leaders across the spectrum have condemned Israel’s decision.

On Monday, the National Consultative Council — chaired by Mohamud and including the prime minister, federal state presidents and regional governors — rejected the recognition as an “illegal step” that threatens regional security stretching from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

Four federal member states issued coordinated statements over the weekend denouncing the move. However, Puntland and Jubbaland — both of which recently announced their withdrawal from Somalia’s federal system over electoral and constitutional disputes — have remained silent.

Most United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members slammed Israel’s recognition of Somaliland at a meeting convened on Monday in response to the move, which several countries said may also have serious implications for Palestinians in Gaza.

The United States was the only member of the 15-member body not to condemn Israel’s formal recognition at the emergency meeting in New York on Monday, although it said its own position on Somaliland had not changed.

Somalia’s UN ambassador, Abu Bakr Dahir Osman, warned that the recognition “aims to promote the fragmentation of Somalia” and raised concerns it could facilitate the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza to northwestern Somalia, a fear echoed by several other nations.

“This utter disdain for law and morality must be stopped now,” he said.

US deputy representative Tammy Bruce told the council that “Israel has the same right to establish diplomatic relations as any other sovereign state”, though she added Washington had made “no announcement” regarding its own recognition of Somaliland.

Israel’s deputy UN ambassador, Jonathan Miller, defended the decision as “not a hostile step toward Somalia” and made the case to the UNSC for other countries to follow its lead.

Somalia’s state minister for foreign affairs, Ali Omar, thanked UNSC members for their “clear and principled” stance on the issue in a post on X.

China’s latest live-fire drills around Taiwan include a simulated blockade of the island — a strong possibility should Beijing seek to retake what it describes as a breakaway province that must eventually be reunited. As well as potentially reflecting, at least in part, Beijing’s existing planning for a future invasion of Taiwan, the exercises come at a time of notable tensions between China and the United States, as well as Japan.

This morning, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command sent elements from its navy, air force, rocket force, and coast guard to surround Taiwan, as part of a surprise exercise called Justice Mission 2025. The maneuvers began less than an hour after they had been officially announced, and assets said to be involved include destroyers, frigates, fighters, bombers, drones, and long-range missiles. The photo at the top of this story, showing a PLA J-16 Flanker multirole fighter, was released today by the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense, reportedly obtained via the targeting pod of a Taiwanese F-16. It may, however, originate from an earlier occasion.

The PLA Eastern Theater Command released a video on its official Weibo account that purportedly shows a view of the Taipei 101 skyscraper, as seen from a drone.

Most significantly, the live-fire drills involve a simulated blockade of major Taiwanese ports. As we have described in the past, an aerial and maritime blockade of Taiwan could potentially be an attractive option for Beijing to use its hard power, with the aim of choking the island into submission, while holding back from a full-scale invasion.

At the same time, Justice Mission 2025 has involved training for other kinds of contingencies, including attacking different types of maritime targets, and responding to international “interference” — a tacit reference to dealing with the U.S. military and other nations that might be expected to come to Taiwan’s aid in a crisis.

In the PLA’s words, its forces are conducting their drills “in close proximity” to Taiwan, to test “sea-air coordination and precise target hunting and neutralization,” including attacks on submarines and other maritime targets.

As of Monday afternoon, local time, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said it had detected 28 PLA Navy and coast guard ships, including two that entered Taiwan’s contiguous zone.

Very notable that the majority of the PLA vessels marked in this map are inside Taiwan’s contiguous zone and pushing against the boundary of Taiwan’s territorial waters.

Five of the exercise zones and live-fire areas violate the territorial waters. https://t.co/j1S4IIGNjz

— Ben Lewis 🇺🇦 (@OfficialBen_L) December 29, 2025

At least 89 PLA aircraft were also reported, the largest daily tally for more than a year. In a break from previous exercises, a significant number of PLA aircraft reportedly had their transponders switched on, meaning that they were visible on flight-tracking software, reflecting Beijing’s apparent decision to conduct the drills more in the public eye.

So close, so beautiful, go to Taipei at any time …
《这么近 那么美 随时到台北》
伸手可掬日月潭水，迈步可登阿里山顶

Latest footages: Aerial view of Taipei #101 skyscraper from the perspective of a drone of the Chinese #PLA
【解放军无人机俯瞰台北101大厦】 #ChinaMilBugle… pic.twitter.com/UdW1jbuFnc

— China Military Bugle (@ChinaMilBugle) December 29, 2025

Taiwan also stated that a formation of four amphibious assault ships, with embarked helicopters, was spotted 160 nautical miles west of Taiwan’s southern tip.

Compared to previous large-scale exercises, Justice Mission 2025 appears to be making use of a larger area, according to published maps of air and maritime warning areas. At least some of these zones also overlap with Taiwan’s territorial border, which extends to 12 nautical miles off its coast.

Col. Shi Yi, the spokesperson for the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command, described the exercise as “a stern warning against ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and external interference forces.”

Beijing has also issued messages intended for U.S. consumption.

In particular, foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian claimed that unnamed “external parties” were pushing the region closer to war. “Any sinister schemes to obstruct China’s reunification are doomed to fail,” Lin added.

More pointedly, China’s Ministry of Defense said today that “relevant countries” should “abandon illusions of using Taiwan to contain China.”

For its part, Taiwan has condemned the latest Chinese exercises.

Taipei accused Beijing of escalating tensions and undermining regional peace. In response to the PLA maneuvers, Taiwan said that it dispatched “appropriate forces” to respond and conduct counter-combat-readiness exercises of its own.

In response to today’s #PLA aircraft and naval activity, the #ROCArmedForces conducted Rapid Response Exercises and closely monitored the situation. Joint sea and air operations with all services and the Taiwan Coast Guard remain on high alert. #FullAwareness pic.twitter.com/urRlOh4cUL

— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, ROC(Taiwan) 🇹🇼 (@MoNDefense) December 29, 2025

“Defending democracy and freedom is no provocation, and the existence of the Republic of China [Taiwan’s formal name] is not an excuse for aggressors to disrupt the status quo,” the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense said.

We strongly condemn the PRC’s irrational provocations and oppose the PLA’s actions that undermine regional peace.
Rapid Response Exercises are underway, with forces on high alert to defend the Republic of China and protect our people.#ROCArmedForces#PeaceThroughStrength pic.twitter.com/uPw0Qm9Upn

— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, ROC(Taiwan) 🇹🇼 (@MoNDefense) December 29, 2025

The backdrop to Justice Mission 2025, of course, is Beijing’s aspiration to reunify Taiwan with the mainland.

Many have floated 2027 — which also marks the centenary of the founding of the PLA — as the year China could be capable of invading the island, including U.S. officials. While the Chinese leadership has expressed its preference for a unification achieved through peaceful means, the PLA has also been instructed to be prepared to conduct a successful invasion of Taiwan no later than 2027.

Starting from ‘island encirclement’ drills by H-6 bombers from 2016, when Taiwan’s independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen took office, China’s gray-zone operations directed against the island have been progressively stepped up to frequent incursions into its southwestern corner of the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) since 2020.

Another significant turning point was the August 2022 visit to Taiwan by a U.S. congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This provided Beijing with further justification to escalate. Significant numbers of PLA aircraft were sortied over the tacitly agreed median line of the Taiwan Strait while warships sailed into its contiguous zone. 

Justice Mission 2025 is now the sixth major PLA military exercise targeting Taiwan since Pelosi’s visit.

On the one hand, large-scale military maneuvers, and especially live-fire exercises, are a critical element of routine readiness training for the PLA.

On the other hand, Beijing has frequently timed these maneuvers, or otherwise promoted them, in response to perceived acts of provocation by Taiwan or the United States.

With that in mind, it’s likely no coincidence that the apparent snap drills come soon after the U.S. government approved a record $11-billion arms package for Taiwan. This includes offensive as well as defensive equipment — including additional examples of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) — which has long been a particular issue for China.

There has also been a notable uptick in critical articles in Chinese state media in recent days regarding the U.S. position toward the so-called ‘First Island Chain.’

The First Island Chain is a boundary defined by archipelagos opposite mainland East Asia, extending from the southern end of the Japanese home islands all the way to the South China Sea.

For long, the United States has highlighted the strategic importance of defending the First Island Chain against primarily Chinese aggression.

Beijing has also voiced displeasure with recent statements from Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, who has called for increased defense spending to counter what he described as China’s “intensifying” threats.

Japan, too, has been highlighted by Beijing, specifically after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said her country would likely become militarily involved if China were to attack Taiwan.

As such, the timing for a high-profile military exercise of this kind is very much right, as far as Beijing is concerned.

It is notable, however, that on this occasion the signaling as well as the scenarios being practiced focus not only on dealing with Taiwan, but also deterring international involvement, something that is now being referenced more explicitly by Beijing.

Speaking after a major exercise in April of this year, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said that “America is committed to sustaining robust, ready, and credible deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, including across the Taiwan Strait.”

Now, with the PLA’s second major exercise during U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, Beijing will be keeping a close eye on Washington’s response to the drills.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

All UAE forces must leave Yemen within 24 hours, the presidential council says.

The Saudi-led coalition carried out a targeted strike at Yemen’s Mukalla port, accusing foreign-backed vessels of delivering weapons to southern separatists.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has carried out a “limited military operation” targeting what it described as foreign military support at Mukalla port, days after warning the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) group against taking military action in Hadramout province.

Coalition air forces carried out the military operation early on Tuesday, targeting unloaded weapons and vehicles, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Coalition spokesperson Turki al-Malki said two ships entered Mukalla port on Saturday and Sunday without coalition authorisation, disabled their tracking systems, and unloaded large quantities of weapons and combat vehicles “to support” the STC.

The ‍Saudi-backed head of Yemen’s presidential council, Rashad ⁠al Alimi, ​said on ‍Tuesday after the air strike that all forces of the United ‍Arab ⁠Emirates must leave Yemen within 24 hours.

“Given the danger and escalation posed by these weapons … the coalition air forces carried out a limited military operation this morning targeting weapons and combat vehicles that had been unloaded from the two ships at the port of al-Mukalla,” SPA reported.

Two sources told Reuters news agency that the strike specifically targeted the dock where the cargo had been unloaded. The coalition said there were no casualties or collateral damage and emphasised that the operation was conducted in accordance with international humanitarian law.

The strike comes amid heightened tensions following an offensive earlier this month by the STC against Yemeni government troops backed by the coalition.

Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman Al Saud posted on X that the STC troops should “peacefully hand over” two regional governorates to the government. Meanwhile, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for “restraint and continued diplomacy, with a view to reaching a lasting solution”.

A divided Yemen

The STC was initially part of the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Houthis, but the group later pursued self-rule in southern Yemen. Since 2022, the STC, which has previously received assistance from the United Arab Emirates, has controlled southern territories outside Houthi areas under a Saudi-backed power-sharing arrangement.

In recent weeks, however, the STC has swept through swaths of the country, expelling other government forces and their allies.

It was almost 6 p.m. on the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 24. 

Makinta Bukar had finished attending to a customer when he heard the Islamic call for prayer from a nearby mosque, signalling the closure of business for the day. He performed ablution, picked up the food items he had bought earlier, locked his shop, and headed to the Al-Adum Jummat Mosque in Gamboru Market, Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria.

It was a routine he had followed for years.

A few shops away, Suleiman Zakariya was also closing up. Alongside a friend known simply as Manager, he walked towards the same mosque. 

The three men met outside the mosque and chatted briefly. Makinta and Suleiman went in through the front door and occupied the front row, while Manager followed through the back door and stayed a few rows behind them. 

Then prayer began. 

Moments later, a sudden loud sound exploded in the middle of the mosque.

“I thought it was an electric spark,” Makinta recalled. “I ran out immediately as I was close to the exit.” After a few steps, he collapsed. “That was when I noticed the blood on my trousers. I tried standing up but felt a sharp pain.”

Suleiman, standing just behind the Imam, could not escape as quickly. 

“The blast threw me forward,” he recalled. “I sustained injuries on my legs and waist. The debris pierced through my two legs. There was dust everywhere. You could not see anything. The sound was so loud that it deafened my right ear. I still cannot hear with it.”

Manager, who was praying close to the centre of the mosque where the explosion occurred, did not survive.

“He was blown apart,” Suleiman said. “It was only his right arm that was identified this morning through his wristwatch.”

A familiar violence returns

The explosion triggered panic across the area and people ran in all directions. 

As the confusion spread and the sound of the blast quietened, residents rushed towards the scene. Some tried to help the wounded; others searched desperately for friends and relatives. Security operatives and ambulances soon arrived.

“They put me and other victims into their vehicle and drove us to the hospital,” Makinta recalled. Some were taken to the Maiduguri Specialist Hospital, others to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

Police authorities later said five people were killed and at least 35 were injured. But survivors dispute that number.

“None of those praying in the middle survived,” Salisu Tahir, another survivor, who prayed in the last row, said. He had prayed regularly at the mosque for nearly two years. “The mosque can take more than 100 people,” he added. “That day, it was full,” Salisu noted that about 15 worshippers could make up a row. 

Others who were praying outside, on the verandah and in the open air, were also struck by debris. “The blast reached them, too,” Suleiman noted. 

When HumAngle visited the mosque, blood stains still marked the walls. Footwear and caps, left behind in the rush to escape, lay scattered across the floor.

The explosion reopened old wounds in a city still trying to heal.

At press time, no terrorist organisation operating in the region has claimed responsibility, and authorities say investigations are ongoing. However, the pattern resembles previous attacks attributed to the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS) faction of the Boko Haram terror group.

For more than a decade, Maiduguri stood at the centre of Boko Haram’s insurgency. What began in 2009 as an uprising against the state evolved into a brutal campaign targeting civilians, markets, schools, and places of worship. Tens of thousands were killed, and millions displaced across Borno State and neighbouring regions.

At the height of the violence, bombings were frequent. In 2015, coordinated suicide attacks tore through parts of Maiduguri, including markets and busy roads. Two years later, explosions struck the University of Maiduguri, claiming several lives and heightening fear among residents.

The violence devastated livelihoods. Farming collapsed in many areas. Trade slowed as roads became unsafe. Markets emptied, and families who once relied on daily commerce slipped deeper into poverty.

Gradually, the attacks receded. Counterterrorism and community-led efforts, particularly the rise of the Civilian Joint Task Force, helped push terror groups out of the city. Checkpoints became less visible. Shops reopened. Life, cautiously, began to return.

For years, Maiduguri experienced a fragile calm.

Until now.

Lives interrupted

Wednesday’s bombing has put many lives on hold.

Makinta now lies on a hospital bed, his legs wrapped in bandages. A maize flour trader, he earns his living selling goods that belong to his employer. “I make at least ₦7,000 daily,” he said. “I have a wife and two daughters. I provide for them from what I make at the market.”

Now, he worries about survival.

“With this injury, I cannot go out.” Shrapnel tore into both his legs, damaging the bone in his left leg. 

As he spoke, a relative came to visit. Before leaving, she handed him ₦1,000, which he immediately passed on to his wife.

“I had just finished ablution and was preparing to pray when I heard the news,” said Yagana Bukar, Makinta’s wife. “I had already made stew and put water on the fire. I was waiting for him to return with rice so I could cook.” When she learnt about her husband, she rushed to the hospital, leaving her children with her sister.

Unlike Makinta, Suleiman owns his shop, where he sells provisions supplied on credit. “I collect items from wholesalers at Monday Market, sell them, and then return their money,” he explained. “What remains is my profit. I make about ₦20,000 daily. That is my only source of income.”

He also buys food for his household daily. “This incident will affect me badly,” he said. “I cannot go to the market until I recover. I worry about how my family will survive during this time. I am the sole breadwinner.”

At the entrance of the ward, Abatcha Mohammed waited anxiously. His younger brother was among the injured. “My shop is next to his,” he said. “I also pray in that mosque. But that day, I had gone home early because my son was sick. When the explosion happened, I rushed back. My uncle and some friends were also affected.”

The market falls quiet

At Gamboru Market, HumAngle observed a scene far removed from its usual bustle. Many shops, especially those closest to the mosque, were locked. Stalls stood empty. The area was unusually quiet, with security operatives patrolling the streets.

Gamboru Market is one of Maiduguri’s busiest commercial centres, drawing traders and buyers from across Borno State and neighbouring countries, including Chad, Cameroon, and Niger. It hosts a wide range of businesses, from fresh produce and clothing to household goods, and supports countless small-scale traders, tailors, and food vendors. Activity often continues into the night, sometimes until 9 p.m., long after the main market closes.

Now, that routine has been broken.

Still, the survivors speak with resolve. 

“I will be careful going forward,” Makinta said. “Nothing happens without the will of Allah.” Suleiman echoed him. “I will return to the mosque,” he said. “Crowded or not, I will pray again. Allah has already written what will happen. I survived this because it was not my time. Those who died, it was their appointed time.”

Bangladesh’s first female prime minister Khaleda Zia has died at the age of 80 after suffering from prolonged illness.

Zia became Bangladesh’s first female head of government in 1991 after leading her party to victory in the country’s first democratic election in 20 years.

Physicians had said on Monday said her condition was “extremely critical”. She was put on life support, but it was not possible to provide multiple treatments at the same time given her age and overall poor health, they said.

Despite her poor health, her party had earlier said that Zia would contest general elections expected in February, the first since a revolution which led to the ousting of Zia’s rival, Sheikh Hasina.

Bangladeshi politics had for decades been defined by the bitter feud between the two women, who alternated between government and opposition.

“Our favourite leader is no longer with us. She left us at 6am this morning,” Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) announced on Facebook on Monday.

Crowds gathered outside Evercare Hospital in Dhaka where Zia was warded after news of her death broke. Photographs show police officers trying to stop them from entering the hospital premises.

Zia first came into public attention as the wife of Bangladesh’s former president Ziaur Rahman. Following his assassination in a 1981 military coup, Zia entered politics and later rose to lead the BNP.

After a second term in 1996 that lasted just a few weeks, Zia returned to the post of prime minister in 2001, stepping down in October 2006 ahead of a general election.

Her political career had been marred by corruption allegations and a long-standing political rivalry with Awami League leader Hasina.

Zia was jailed for corruption in 2018, under Hasina’s administration. Zia denied wrongdoing and said the charges were politically motivated.

She was released from last year, shortly after mass anti-government protests in Bangladesh toppled Hasina, forcing her into exile. The BNP had said in November that Zia would campaign in the upcoming general elections.

The BNP is eyeing a return to power, and if that happens, Zia’s son Tarique Rahman is expected to become the country’s new leader.

Rahman, 60, had only returned to Bangladesh last week after 17 years in self-imposed exile in London.

Zia had been in hospital for the past month, receiving treatment for kidney damage, heart disease and pneumonia, among other conditions.

During her final days, interim leader Muhammad Yunus had called for the country to pray for Zia, calling her a “source of utmost inspiration for the nation”.

Her family members, including Rahman, his wife and his daughter, were by her side in her last moments, BNP said.

“We pray for the forgiveness of her soul and request everyone to offer prayers for her departed soul,” the party said in its statement on Tuesday.

Local newspapers paid tribute to the former leader, with Prothom Alo saying she had “earned the epithet of the ‘uncompromising leader'”

English-language paper The Daily Star called her a “defining figure of Bangladesh’s democratic struggle” and a leader who was “tenacious in political survival and grit”.

Families of victims of the deadly attack on a Jewish celebration at Australia’s Bondi Beach earlier this month have called for a national inquiry into rising anti-Semitism.

In an open letter published on Monday, relatives of 11 of the victims of the attack called on Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to hold a royal commission into what they called the “rapid” and “dangerous” rise of anti-Jewish sentiment following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

Fifteen people, most of them Jewish, were killed when two gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach on December 14.

Australian authorities have said the suspected gunmen, Sajid Akram and his son Naveed, were inspired by the ISIL (ISIS) group.

In their letter, the families said they needed to know why “clear warning signs were ignored” and “how antisemitic hatred … [was] allowed to dangerously grow unchecked”.

“As proud Australians and proud Jews, we have endured more than two and a half years of relentless attacks,” the families said.

“Our children feel unsafe at school and university. Our homes, workplaces, sporting fields, and public spaces no longer feel secure.”

The response of Albanese’s Labor government to the attack, including proposals to tighten gun laws and introduce tougher legislation against hate speech, was “not nearly enough,” the families said.

“The dangerous rise of antisemitism and radicalism in Australia is not going away,” they said.

“We need strong action now. We need leadership now.”

The calls for an inquiry into anti-Semitism came as Albanese on Monday announced the terms of an independent review into whether law enforcement and intelligence agencies could have done more to prevent the attack.

Albanese and his government colleagues have resisted calls for a public inquiry into the attack, arguing that such a process would take years and could undermine social cohesion by platforming extremist voices.

Albanese told a news conference that the review, led by former intelligence chief Dennis Richardson, would examine what authorities knew about the suspected gunmen before the attack and information sharing between federal and state agencies, among other issues.

“Just over two weeks ago, anti-Semitic terrorists tried to tear our country apart, but our country is stronger than these cowards,” Albanese said.

“They went to Bondi Beach to unleash mass murder against our Jewish community. We need to respond with unity and urgency rather than division and delay.”

Anti-Jewish sentiment, as well as anti-Islam and anti-immigration sentiment, are rising in Australia. Many Australians have expressed their concerns over a rise in right-wing extremism in the country, where one in two people is either born overseas or has a parent born overseas.

In September, thousands of people held rallies in cities, including Sydney, Perth, Canberra and Brisbane, demanding an end to “mass migration”.

The Australian government has condemned the rallies, which took place under the banner of “March for Australia”, as racist, while Minister for Multicultural Affairs Anne Aly said the gatherings were “organised by Nazis”.

The group behind “March for Australia” said on its website and social media that “mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together” and that its rallies aimed to do “what the mainstream politicians never have the courage to do: demand an end to mass immigration”.

But Australia also experienced a sharp rise in both anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents since October 7, 2023.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which supports the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, documented 1,654 anti-Jewish incidents nationwide between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025, after more than 2,060 incidents the previous year.

The Islamophobia Register Australia recorded 309 in-person incidents of Islamophobia and 366 online incidents between January 1, 2023 and November 31, 2024.

Numerous rights organisations, including some Jewish groups, have criticised the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, arguing that it has been used to conflate legitimate criticism of Israel – particularly of its genocidal war on Gaza – with anti-Jewish bigotry.

One of Albanese’s highest-profile critics in the wake of the Bondi Beach attack was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – he blamed Albanese’s government for failing to protect Australia’s Jewish community and also linked the shooting to Australia’s recent decision to recognise Palestinian statehood.

House of Commons

New protections for llamas vulnerable to dog attacks

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Not-for-profit bus services given the green light

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The British pint protected from going metric

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Blanket bans on tenants’ pets lifted

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Rest in peace – or until we need your grave back

New imagery of Chinese catapult-capable low-observable combat drones, or possibly mockups thereof, together with some unusual trucks, may point to plans to launch them from the ground, as well as ships. A modular, truck-mounted electromagnetic catapult system would offer a valuable additional way to launch larger drones, especially in areas with limited access to traditional runways. General Atomics in the United States has proposed a roughly similar concept in the past, leveraging technology developed for the U.S. Navy’s Ford class aircraft carriers.

Pictures of the drones sitting dockside at Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai first began circulating online late last week. The presence of the super-sized Type 076 amphibious assault ship Sichuan in drydock nearby still raises the possibility of plans for trials aboard that ship, which features a single electromagnetic catapult, as was discussed in TWZ‘s initial reporting here. A medium-sized cargo ship loaded with containerized vertical launchers, as well as sensors and close-in defense systems, which emerged last week, has also been moored at this yard recently.

Though the drones are still under wraps in the new images, we do now have a better look at their overall design. This includes nose landing gear with bars that clearly show the design is intended for catapult launch. There is also a notable outline of a fairing under the nose, though no further details about that feature can be discerned at present.

It is interesting to note that a mockup of a drone called the FH-97, shown at China’s Zhuhai Airshow in 2021, was depicted with an electro-optical sensor in a stealthy gold-plated windowed enclosure installed under its nose. The overall design of the FH-97, which is at least heavily inspired by the XQ-58A Valkyrie from U.S. drone maker Kratos, is similar in many other respects, at least in broad strokes, to what has now been seen at the Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard. The XQ-58 and FH-97 are both notably smaller designs. There are also similarities to two Chinese ‘loyal wingman’ type drone designs, commonly referred to presently as the Type C and Type E, which emerged around a huge military parade in Beijing back in September.

More interestingly, the new pictures from Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard show at least three eight-wheeled trucks that look designed to lock together seamlessly in a chain. Doing so also appears to form a continuous flat surface across the top. One of the drones is seen loaded at the rear of one of the trucks with its nose gear bar locked into what looks to be a catapult shuttle.

Besides the cabs in front, the sides of the trucks are largely open, showing elaborate electrical systems and large amounts of heavy exposed wiring. There is a cylindrical drum above each wheel, which could be part of an independent articulating suspension system capable of self-leveling. They might also serve another purpose, which we will come back to later on.

A satellite image taken yesterday, which TWZ obtained from Planet Labs, shows what looks to be at least four of the trucks parked close together in a line along one of the piers at Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard. Despite the low resolution, a drone is plainly seen loaded on one of the trucks. Another one of the ‘loyal wingman’ drones is visible immediately behind the row of trucks, in line with what is seen in the pictures taken at ground level. Four more of the swept-wing drones are also visible further down the pier. A Wing Loong-type drone, similar to the Q-1/Q-9 Predator/Reaper series, is also present.

Altogether, there is the potential that these trucks could be part of a mobile ground-based electromagnetic catapult system. The cylinders and wiring seen on the trucks might be electromagnets and/or other supporting components. Any such system would also need to be self-leveling to help ensure a clean launch.

At the same time, they could still just be transporters, though the design looks far more elaborate than would be required for that purpose alone. The trucks could possibly be designed to serve both functions.

There is the additional question of why, if this is indeed a ground-based electromagnetic catapult system, it has been brought down to Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard at all. This is not the environment in which one would expect such a system to be employed, and there are no clear signs as of yet that it is there as part of a larger display.

Regardless, the basic idea of employing an aircraft carrier-type catapult launch system on land is not new. China itself, as well as the United States, has built steam and electromagnetic-powered catapults at land-based test sites for test, evaluation, and training purposes. The U.S. Marine Corps actually employed an ‘aircraft carrier on land’ with catapults and arresting gear, called the Short Airfield for Tactical Support (SATS) system, operationally during the Vietnam War, which you can read more about here.

CE-2 TRACKLESS AIRCRAFT LAUNCHER 1966 MARINE CORPS SHORT AIRFIELD FOR TACTICAL SUPPORT FILM 81190

At least one company in China, Tiantao Technology, has been openly talking about plans for a ground-based electromagnetic catapult system made up of modular wheeled segments since at least August of this year. Renderings have shown 10-wheeled sections that do have some broad similarities to, but that also are distinctly different from the eight-wheeled trucks seen at Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard. The eight-wheeled trucks, if they are part of a mobile electromagnetic catapult system, could also reflect an early developmental iteration.

Tiantao Technology has also reportedly said the system will be capable of launching uncrewed aircraft weighing up to around 2.2 tons (two metric tons). This is lighter than the expected takeoff weights of ‘loyal wingman’ type drones China has shown to date, based on the known specifications of comparably-sized Western designs. For example, the stated maximum launch weight of the XQ-58 is three tons, according to Kratos. As another point of comparison, the Chinese GJ-11, a larger flying-wing uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV), a catapult-capable version of which is now in development, reportedly has a payload capacity of around two tons. China’s J-15 family of crewed carrier-based fighters, derived from the Su-33 Flanker, each weighs around 19 tons (17.5 metric tons) empty without any fuel or ordnance, as well.

It is possible that the modular design of Tiantao Technology’s ground-based catapult system could allow for configurations capable of launching heavier designs. A core benefit of electromagnetic catapults over steam-powered ones, in general, is their ability to be more fine-tuned in terms of the forces they exert on any aircraft during launch. The capabilities of a modular system would also be dependent on its exact configuration, including how long the catapult track is overall. Tiantao Technology has said the total length of its system could be scaled between roughly 65 and 196 feet (20 and 60 meters). What limitations there might be on simply adding more segments to increase launch capacity are unknown.

China’s aircraft carrier electromagnetic catapult is incredibly cool — the moment the catapult comes to an instant stop looks like a space jump straight out of a sci-fi movie. pic.twitter.com/VWdLOEzgzS

— JacksonS (@shrmodelx) December 25, 2025

Tiantao Technology has also shown models and renderings of truck and trailer-mounted electromagnetic catapults for launching even smaller drones. How much progress it has made in the actual development of any of the systems to date is unclear. Other firms in China could very well be working along similar lines, too.

All this being said, a ground-based electromagnetic catapult system capable of launching even two-ton drones still opens doors to new operational possibilities. This is a capability that could be especially valuable in expeditionary scenarios or other contexts in which access to traditional runways is limited. A mobile system would also offer a new way to push at least a certain tier of airpower closer to the front lines, and help keep it in close proximity where it could be more responsive, even as the dimensions of the battlefield evolve. Less transit time would translate to more on-station endurance even for smaller, shorter-range drones.

Another general benefit of electromagnetic catapults over steam-powered types is the shorter reset time, which, by extension, increases sortie generation rates. How Tiantao Technology envisions drones being loaded on its ground-based system is unclear. It is possible that a truck preloaded with a drone could drive up, lock into the rear of the track, launch, and then detach to make way for the next one, offering additional benefits when it comes to operational tempo. Being able to break the launch system into multiple parts and disperse it when not in use would create targeting challenges for enemies and help increase survivability, as well.

As TWZ regularly notes, China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has major standing requirements to be able to conduct island-hopping campaigns against various potential opponents in the Pacific, where a shore-based electromagnetic catapult system could be particularly relevant. The PLA is also postured to fight in highly remote and high-altitude areas along its disputed western border with India, where access to established runways is also often limited.

These kinds of operational scenarios are driving the pursuit of aircraft, especially uncrewed types, with reduced runway requirements or entirely runway-independent designs by many armed forces globally. This includes the U.S. military. A ground-based electromagnetic catapult is just one way of approaching this operational need. There are runway-independent drones already on the market today that are launched with the help of expendable rocket motors or pneumatic catapults. However, these methods impose their own limitations, especially when it comes to launch weight and payload capacity. Rocket-assisted takeoffs come along with the additional risks associated with using that kind of propellant, as well as the stresses that are imparted on the aircraft being launched. The rockets are also consumed on launch, requiring a steady supply of them at any operating location. Kratos has notably demonstrated a special launch trolley for its primarily rocket-launched XQ-58 that allows for traditional runway takeoffs. The company is also developing a version of that design with built-in landing gear, to offer increased flexibility.

In the context of what may now be in development in China, there is the additional question about how drones might be recovered after launch from a ground-based electromagnetic catapult. Tiantao Technology does not appear to have elaborated yet on this part of the expected concept of operations for its system. The aforementioned concept that General Atomics put forward paired an electromagnetic catapult with a separate arrested landing system, also based on technology developed for the U.S. Navy’s Ford class aircraft carriers. As noted, the Vietnam War-era SATS system also included arresting gear. The U.S. military and other armed forces globally already employ deployable arresting gear, especially to enable crewed tactical jet operations from far-flung locations with shorter runways. Drones could recover at tertiary bases, or be designed to land via parachute or some other runway-independent method, as well. The system could also be used to launch long-range one-way attack drones that would not be designed for recovery at all.

There is also a question of power and other logistical requirements. However, a ground-based electromagnetic catapult system that is not required to support all of the different types in a full carrier air wing, especially larger crewed aircraft, would inherently require far less capability.

It is also worth noting that a modular electromagnetic catapult system might be usable on ships that do not have this capability built into their design. As mentioned, the drones and trucks seen at Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard were spotted near a cargo ship loaded with various containerized weapons and other systems. A drone launch capability of some kind would be a logical addition to a vessel with that configuration. At the same time, whether or not any catapult system made up of multiple segmented components would be stable enough for use on a ship rocking back and forth at sea is unclear.

As a general note, major new military capabilities often emerge in China during the time between Christmas and New Year’s. This is also something that happens with the clear acquiescence of authorities in Beijing if they are not outright announced through official channels. Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard is an obvious area of interest for observers, and Chinese authorities do not appear to have taken any special steps to conceal the recent appearance of the drone mockups or the trucks.

More details about the trucks, and their exact function, as well as the drones, may now begin to emerge.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Somalia says it is concerned the recognition serves as a pretext for the forced relocation of Palestinians.

Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia, is a “direct and grave threat to international peace and security”, Somalia has said.

In a letter penned to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Monday, Somalia rejected the move as a violation of its sovereignty, calling it “morally indefensible”.

Last week, Israel became the first country to formally recognise the self-declared Republic of Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state. Israel described the move as being in the spirit of the United States-brokered Abraham Accords, which normalised ties between Israel and several Arab countries.

“We further note with deep concern reports that this recognition may serve as a pretext for the forced relocation of Palestinians to Northwestern Somalia,” Somalia’s letter to the UNSC stated.

“Israel’s actions not only set a dangerous precedent and risk destabilising the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region but also undermine collective efforts and pose a serious threat to regional and international peace and security,” Somalia also stated in the letter, urging UNSC members to uphold its sovereignty.

Abu Bakr Dahir Osman, Somalia’s representative to the UNSC, echoed the letter’s sentiments,

“This region [Somaliland] is not legally entitled to enter into any agreement or arrangement, nor to receive recognition from any other state,” Osman said.

“This act of aggression aims to promote the fragmentation of Somalia and must be rejected and condemned unequivocally by all Member States,” he added.

Recognition rejected

The United Kingdom on Monday said that it does not recognise the independence of Somaliland, and reaffirmed its support for Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

It urged efforts between the Federal Government of Somalia and the Somaliland authorities to “address differences and work together to face common threats”, stating that armed groups benefited from internal divisions in the country.

Other countries have also declined to recognise Somaliland, including China earlier on Monday.

“No country should encourage or support other countries’ internal separatist forces for its own selfish interests,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters at a regular news conference.

South Africa’s Foreign Ministry, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, on Monday urged the international community to “reject this external interference and support a united, stable Somalia”.

However, Tammy Bruce, the US deputy representative to the UN, said that “Israel has the same right to establish diplomatic relations as any other sovereign state”.

“Several countries, including members of this Council, have unilaterally recognised a non-existent Palestinian state, yet no emergency meeting has been convened,” Bruce added, chiding what she said were the UNSC’s “double standards”.

“We have no announcement to make regarding the recognition of Somaliland, and there has been no change in US policy,” Bruce added.

Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991, after a civil war under military leader Siad Barre. The self-declared republic controls part of northwestern Somalia and has its own constitution, currency and flag.

It claims the territory of the former British Somaliland protectorate, but its eastern regions remain under the control of rival administrations loyal to Somalia. It has sought international acceptance for more than three decades without success.

Syria’s new leader has been trying to stabilise his country and reintegrate it globally since he took office in January.

But outbreaks of sectarian violence are threatening President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s efforts to rebuild the country after 14 years of civil war.

The latest flare-up on Sunday saw protesters from the Alawite minority group come face to face with supporters of the government in the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous. Government troops sent to stop the violence were attacked. The once-powerful community says it is being marginalised.

How big a security threat are the protests and violence?

How can President al-Sharaa calm tensions?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Fadel Abdulghany – Founder and executive director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights.

Gamal Mansour – Specialist in comparative politics and international relations

Labib Nahhas – Director of the Syrian Association for Citizens’ Dignity

U.S. President Donald Trump added new details on Monday to his claim that the U.S. carried out an attack last week inside Venezuela; however he did not provide any proof. If true, such a strike would mark a significant escalation of a months-long pressure campaign on Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and the cartels. Until now, U.S. publicly acknowledged kinetic actions have been limited to attacks on alleged drug-running boats, even as Washington’s military presence in the region continues to grow.

You can catch up with our most recent coverage of Operation Southern Spear here.

“We hit all the boats and now we hit the area, it’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement,” the president said while at Mar-a-Lago, standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “And that is no longer around.”

Trump declined to say whether it was the U.S. military or the CIA that carried out the attack.

Trump first made the claim of the attack inside Venezuela last week during a phone call with WABC radio in New York.

“I don’t know if you read or you saw, they have a big plant, or a big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump told John Catsimatidis, the billionaire Trump supporter who owns the radio station. “Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we have hit them very hard, but drugs are down over 97% Can you believe it?”

Trump has yet to offer proof of any attacks inside Venezuela. During their conversation, Catsimatidis didn’t press him on the matter. Anonymous American officials told The New York Times that the president was “referring to a drug facility in Venezuela and that it was eliminated, but provided no details.”

The White House has not responded to requests from The War Zone and many other news organizations for corroboration of an attack inside Venezuela. U.S. Southern Command, which oversees Southern Spear, declined to comment to us. The Pentagon referred us to the White House. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which Trump previously authorized to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela, did not immediately respond to questions about whether it was involved in this claimed attack.

There have been no official comments from Venezuelan authorities about this alleged attack and no independent confirmation from people near the facility. However, videos emerged online suggesting that an explosion and fire at a Primazol chemical plant near Lake Maracaibo may have been the target of a U.S. attack.

While the incident at the chemical plant lines up with the strike timeline proffered by Trump, the company pushed back against suggestions it was attacked.

“We categorically reject the versions circulating on social media that seek to damage the reputation of our founder and the organization,” Primazol explained in a statement. “We responsibly clarify that these claims have no relation whatsoever to the incident and are neither official nor verified.”

The War Zone cannot independently verify any connection, and we reached out to Primazol for more information.

In a post on X, Jhorman Cruz, a local journalist, cautioned against making a connection between Trump’s claim and the fire.

“Residents DID NOT see anything unusual, nor drones, nor cars, nor the presence of foreigners,” he stated. “Be careful with strange hypotheses.”

Trump’s radio interview followed his Christmas Eve phone call to sailors aboard the USS Gerald Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, which is now deployed to the Caribbean. Trump called the region an “interesting place” to be, and said once again that the U.S. would be “going after the land.” He offered no further explanations.

Trump’s claim about the facility strike inside Venezuela was prefaced by a short discussion with the radio station owner about the destruction of alleged drug smuggling vessels. Trump repeated his claim that each drug boat attack saves 25,000 lives in the U.S. To date, SOUTHCOM has hit more than two dozen of these vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing more than 100. The strikes have generated a great deal of controversy, with claims they violate the rules of armed conflict and have been carried out without Congressional or judicial approval. The White House and Pentagon have pushed back on those claims. Earlier this month, Congress closed out investigations into the first of these attacks, on Sept. 2, which were called after it was revealed that survivors of the first strike were killed in a follow-on attack.

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Regardless of Trump’s attack claim, the U.S. continues to grow its military presence in the Caribbean and especially its special operations forces (SOF). Over the weekend, aircraft spotters said they saw at least 10 MC-130J Commando II multi-mission combat transport planes at Rafael Hernandez International Airport (RHIA) in Puerto Rico. That’s double the amount seen at the airport last week. 

At least five of the MC-130Js appear to be outfitted with the full Capability Release 2 (CR-2) set of modifications, which includes Raytheon’s new AN/APQ-187 Silent Knight terrain-following/terrain avoidance radars, a satellite communications system, and other equipment.

In addition, satellite imagery, which you can also see below, now shows at least 11 Air Force Special Operations Command CV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft there as well. We previously reported the presence of nine or 10 Ospreys at RHIA. U.S. Special Operations Command declined comment and Air Force Special Operations Command has not returned a request for comment. You can read more about the significance of these aircraft and the growing SOF presence in the Caribbean to Southern Spear in our story here.

As we previously noted, the airport also plays host to MQ-9 Reaper drones, images of which first began appearing online in September. MQ-9s have been used in boat attacks as well.

In an apparent effort to keep its assets out of the public eye, personnel have been seen obstructing the fence through which photographers have been capturing images of aircraft gathered at RHIA.

As we previously noted, a compendium of satellite imagery dating back to early October shows a large-scale construction project at the airport

Satellite imagery also shows increasing expansion at the Jose Aponte de la Torre Airport in Puerto Rico. The former Roosevelt Roads Navy base has become a key staging ground for U.S. aircraft and troops deployed for Southern Spear.

As of Saturday, an E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node, or BACN was tracked by aircraft spotters to Luis Munoz Marine International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico’s largest.

BACN07 (22-9047) the U.S. Air Force E-11A (Battlefield Airborne Communications Node) is still located at at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan.

It was tracked on the ground today at 12:35(EST)/17:35(UTC). pic.twitter.com/Rr3xIjp4sv

— FrozenFrequency (@FrozenFrequency) December 27, 2025

Meanwhile, as the Trump administration increases military pressure on Maduro, it is also continuing to take aim at Venezuelan oil shipments in an effort to squeeze him economically as well. As one of the world’s largest oil producers, Venezuela relies heavily on it. Since Trump enacted a blockade on sanctioned ships entering or leaving Venezuela, the U.S. has seized two and has pursued a third.

“The United States hasn’t given up its pursuit of the massive, rusted oil tanker it chased into international waters near Venezuela last weekend, and officials are now contemplating moving additional resources into the area to forcibly board the ship,” CNN reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. 

Last known visual we have of BELLA 1 (9230880) is from five days ago, when it was spotted in satellite imagery. Here’s older footage from the bridge. pic.twitter.com/l7ml2gOyu9

— Christiaan Triebert (@trbrtc) December 24, 2025

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova denounced the blockade and seizures on Sunday.

“In principle, we reject attempts to exert pressure on sovereign countries in general, including in the energy sector,” she said. “We understand that behind such a policy there is only a neo-colonial desire to achieve economic advantages through non-competitive political methods.”

“We trust that the Administration of U.S. President Donald Trump will refrain from sliding further into a large-scale armed conflict, which threatens to have unpredictable consequences for the entire Western Hemisphere,” she added.

Satellite images captured on Dec. 24 show elements of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) in close proximity to the M/V Ocean Trader, a special operations mothership. It should be noted that most of the ARG’s aviation combat element (ACE) was moved to Roosevelt Roads several weeks ago and remains there. The presence of these ships so close together, and the aircraft, landing equipment and troops embarked on board, is another indication that U.S. is poised for action beyond hitting suspected drug boats.

Most, if not all, of the aviation combat element (ACE) assigned to the 22nd MEU aboard the Iwo Jima ARG was moved to the former NAS Roosevelt Roads, PR several weeks ago, and remain there.

2/https://t.co/FUGtfOW5qZ

— TheIntelFrog (@TheIntelFrog) December 24, 2025

Much about Trump’s claim that the U.S. attacked inside Venezuela remains unknown. Regardless, the large U.S. military presence in the Caribbean seems to be coalescing toward additional kinetic action.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

AFP via Getty Images

Why does Somaliland want independence?

Why did Israel recognise Somaliland as an independent state?

Why has Israel’s move been condemned so widely?

Is there any support for Israel’s declaration?

More BBC stories on Somaliland:

Getty Images/BBC

Speaking alongside Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump threatens to ‘knock’ down Iran’s attempts to rebuild nuclear capabilities.

United States President Donald Trump suggested that Washington would consider further military action against Iran if Tehran rebuilds its nuclear programme or missile capacity.

Speaking in Florida on Monday, Trump did not rule out a follow-up attack after the June air strikes that damaged three Iranian nuclear facilities.

“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them. But hopefully that’s not happening.”

Trump issued his threat as he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump said that the US and Israel have been “extremely victorious” against their enemies, referring to the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and the strikes against Iran in June.

When asked whether the US would back an Israeli attack against Iran targeting Tehran’s missile programme, Trump said, “If they will continue with the missiles, yes; the nuclear, fast. Okay, one will be yes, absolutely. The other is: We’ll do it immediately.”

Another round of strikes against Iran would likely stir internal opposition in the US, including from segments of Trump’s own base of support.

Trump has repeatedly said that the June strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme.

With the nuclear issue address, according to Trump, Israeli officials and their US allies have been drumming up concern about Iran’s missiles.

Tehran fired hundreds of missiles at Israel in June in response to the unprovoked Israeli attack that killed the country’s top generals, several nuclear scientists and hundreds of civilians.

Senator Lindsey Graham, an Iran hawk who is close to Trump, visited Israel this month and repeated the talking points about the dangers of Iran’s long-range missiles, warning that Iran is producing them “in very high numbers”.

“We cannot allow Iran to produce ballistic missiles because they could overwhelm the Iron Dome,” he told The Jerusalem Post, referring to Israel’s air defence system. “It’s a major threat.”

Iran has ruled out negotiating over its missile programme, which is at the core of its defence strategy.

On Monday, Trumps said Iran should “make a deal” with the US.

“If they want to make a deal, that’s much smarter,” Trump said. “You know, they could have made a deal the last time before we went through a big attack on them, and they decided not to make the deal. They wish they made that deal.”

The prospect of returning to war in the Middle East comes weeks after the Trump administration released a National Security Strategy calling for shifting foreign policy resources away from the region and focusing on the Western Hemisphere.

In June, Iran responded to the US strikes with a missile attack against a US base in Qatar, which did not result in American casualties. Trump announced a ceasefire to end the war shortly after the Iranian response.

But advocates warn that another episode of attacking Iran may escalate into a longer, broader war.

Trita Parsi, executive vice president at the Quincy Institute, a US think tank that promotes diplomacy, told Al Jazeera last week that the Iranian response would be “much harsher” if the country is attacked again.

“The Iranians understand that unless they strike back hard and dispel the view that Iran is a country that you can bomb every six months – unless they do that – Iran will become a country that Israel will bomb every six months,” Parsi said.

On Dec. 17, the M23/AFC rebels announced their withdrawal from Uvira, a city in the South Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),  due to pressure from the United States. The rebel group has, however, failed to keep its promise to restore peace in Uvira, thereby worsening the security and humanitarian situation throughout South Kivu Province.

Fighting has since persisted between the M23 rebels and the Congolese armed forces, known as FARDC.

Amid shrinking funding, partly due to new American foreign policies, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) reports that armed groups are looting health and educational facilities in the troubled region.

“Since the announcement of the withdrawal by the M23 from the town of Uvira on Dec. 17, the security situation remains extremely precarious in the localities neighbouring and along the Uvira-Fizi highway. Armed violence continues, provoking continued displacements. Meanwhile, looting targeting notably educational and health structures has been reported, thus compromising access to health and education by thousands of persons. This persistent insecurity continues while the territories of Fizi and Uvira are already faced with increasing cases of cholera,” the UNOCHA office in DR Congo noted.

The UN agency, which is responsible for coordinating response to global humanitarian crises, natural disasters, and conflicts, added that a climate of unrest continues in these areas. Local humanitarian sources indicate that at least seven healthcare facilities in the Ruzizi health zone of Uvira territory and the Fizi health zone of Fizi territory have been looted and vandalised. Eight primary schools supported by the World Food Programme (WFP) have also been affected. This situation significantly limits access to medical care and disrupts children’s education.

The invasion of the Uvira town by M23/AFC rebels has elicited strong reactions from the international community, particularly aimed at Rwanda. The US declared on Dec. 13 that Rwanda has failed to uphold its commitments made under the Washington Accord, which was concluded between Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, with the participation of various regional heads of state and representatives from the African Union.

Facing international pressure, the M23/AFC rebels declared their intention to withdraw from Uvira to aid the peace process. This statement was released in a communiqué signed by Corneille Nangaa, the political coordinator of the rebel movement. However, a few days later, the American representative to the UN Security Council reiterated the call for the rebels to retreat at least 75 kilometres from Uvira, which they have yet to do.