Trump Says US Struck “Big Facility” in Venezuela as Reports Emerge of CIA Attack

President Donald Trump has boasted of a U.S. strike on a facility on Venezuelan land as reports emerge of a CIA-led attack, which experts say would be a war crime if confirmed.

On Friday, Trump said in a radio interview that the U.S. had struck a “big plant or a big facility where the ships come from,” implying that the strike occurred in Venezuela but not explicitly saying so. He said that the attack happened “two nights ago.”

When asked to clarify on Monday, during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said “there was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs.”

Further reports on Monday appeared to coincide with Trump’s claims. CNN reported that the CIA carried out a strike on a port facility on Venezuela’s coast earlier this month, citing sources familiar with the matter. The New York Times also reported on the CIA operation.

According to reports, nobody was inside the facility at the time of the attack, and there were no casualties. U.S. Special Operations Command had reportedly provided intelligence to support the operation.

If true, the attack would be the first known land strike on Venezuela, marking a major escalation in the U.S.’s unprovoked aggression against the country. The Venezuelan government has not confirmed or commented on the attack as of Tuesday.

Legal experts denounced the reported strike as a war crime.

“An attack in violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and the Take Care Clause of the Constitution,” said Brian Finucane, a senior adviser to the International Crisis Group and former lawyer at the State Department. Finucane also noted to Axios that casually disclosing the strike on a radio show is highly unusual, especially with regard to typically secretive CIA operations.

Indeed, experts have long warned that carrying out land strikes in Venezuela would be a violation of international and domestic law — an even more grave violation than the Trump administration’s boat strike and oil tanker seizure campaigns. Still, Trump has been threatening to strike land in Venezuela for weeks, repeatedly saying that land strikes were coming soon.

Law professor at New York University and Just Security co-editor in chief Ryan Goodman told Axios that the strike could “cross a red line” in terms of the UN Charter and could trigger Venezuela’s right to self-defense.

“If the United States conducted such an operation, I could understand why it would be covert — to minimize blowback from the international community, including our allies,” Goodman said.

One lawmaker, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin), called for a congressional probe into the strike. “Congress must be involved. Briefings. Appearances before committees. Everything. Only Congress can authorize going into war.”

The reports come as the U.S. announced its 30th strike on a vessel on Monday, killing two more people. This brings the total death toll from publicly disclosed strikes to 107.

The U.S. has also seized at least two oil tankers off of the coast of Venezuela and has said that it is pursuing a third. Venezuelan officials have condemned the oil tanker seizures as “worse than piracy” and the “greatest extortion” that the country has ever experienced.