U.S. launches military strikes on Venezuela, Trump says Maduro captured and flown out of the country

What to know about the U.S. military strikes on Venezuela

• President Trump said Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were “captured and flown out of the Country” early Saturday morning, confirming a “large scale strike” had been carried out by U.S. forces, as explosions were reported in Caracas and elsewhere.
• The U.S. Army’s Delta Force, an elite special forces unit, carried out the operation to capture Maduro, officials told CBS News.
• The strikes follow months of U.S. military buildup in the region, with the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and numerous other warships positioned in the Caribbean.
• In recent weeks the U.S. has seized two oil tankers off Venezuela, launched deadly strikes on more than 30 boats the administration says were carrying drugs, and struck what President Trump called “the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs.”
• The Trump administration has accused Maduro of drug trafficking and working with gangs designated as terrorist organizations, which Maduro denies. On Christmas Eve, Mr. Trump declined to say what his goal was, but cautioned that if Maduro “plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’ll ever be able to play tough.”