Overview
- General Dan Caine said the mission followed months of intelligence work that was finalized in early December 2025.
- President Donald Trump ordered execution at 10:46 p.m. Washington time, with launches from 20 land and sea bases across the hemisphere.
- More than 150 aircraft supported strikes that disabled Venezuelan air defenses to clear a path for helicopters into Caracas.
- Helicopter-borne commandos reached Nicolás Maduro’s compound at 1:01 a.m., returned fire under attack, and secured the surrender of Maduro and Cilia Flores with no U.S. casualties.
- Maduro and Flores were flown to the USS Iwo Jima for extraction and later airlifted to New York via Cuba, as separate footage showed a flying-wing drone returning to Puerto Rico’s Roosevelt Roads.