Maduro deploys 25,000 troops to Venezuela borders

Maduro deploys 25,000 troops to Venezuela borders
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro gesturing as he talks during a meeting with the high military command in Caracas on Sept. 5, 2025. (AFP)
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Updated 08 September 2025

Maduro deploys 25,000 troops to Venezuela borders

Maduro deploys 25,000 troops to Venezuela borders
  • The move comes amid soaring tensions with US President Donald Trump
  • Troops were deployed to the northeast coast, home to Venezuela’s biggest oil refineries

CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he had deployed 25,000 troops along the Caribbean coast and the border with Colombia amid soaring tensions with US President Donald Trump.
In a message Sunday night on social media Maduro said he had deployed “25,000 men and women from our glorious National Bolivarian Armed Forces” to the frontier with Colombia and the northeast coast, where the country’s biggest oil refineries are situated.
The deployment aimed to ensure “the defense of national sovereignty, the security of the country and the fight for peace,” he added.
He did not expressly refer to Trump, who has cited the need to combat Venezuelan drug traffickers particularly in ordering the biggest naval buildup in the Caribbean in years.
Last week US forces blew up a suspected drug boat with 11 people aboard in the Caribbean.
Trump said the boat belonged to the Venezuelan crime gang Tren de Aragua but provided scant proof of the claim.
The US leader has also threatened to shoot down Venezuelan military jets if they endanger US forces after two Venezuelan planes flew near a US Navy vessel in international waters.
Venezuela’s armed forces run to around 123,000 members, according to military sources.
Maduro claims a further 220,000 people have enlisted in a civilian militia.


Weapons cache linked to Hamas found in Vienna by Austria’s intelligence service

Weapons cache linked to Hamas found in Vienna by Austria’s intelligence service
Updated 4 sec ago

Weapons cache linked to Hamas found in Vienna by Austria’s intelligence service

Weapons cache linked to Hamas found in Vienna by Austria’s intelligence service
A 39-year-old unidentified British citizen allegedly “having close ties to the weapons cache” was arrested in London
The Directorate for State Security and Intelligence takes consistent action against all forms of extremism, said Austria’s interior minister

VIENNA: Austria’s domestic intelligence service has uncovered a weapons cache in Vienna that is believed to be linked to the Palestinian militant group Hamas for use in “possible terrorist attacks in Europe,” the government said Thursday.
A 39-year-old unidentified British citizen allegedly “having close ties to the weapons cache” was arrested in London on Monday, the interior ministry statement said.
“According to the current state of the investigation, Israeli or Jewish institutions in Europe were likely to be the targets of these attacks,” it added.
The weapons cache and the suspect were part of an internationally coordinated investigation by the country’s Directorate for State Security and Intelligence service, or DSN, “into a global terrorist organization with ties to Hamas.”
In the course of the investigations, the ministry said its intelligence service found “suspicion that a group has brought weapons into Austria to use in possible terrorist attacks in Europe.”
The weapons cache, which is thought belongs to unspecified foreign operations linked to Hamas, was discovered in a suitcase in a rented storage room in Vienna and contained five handguns and 10 accompanying magazines.
“The current case shows once again that the Directorate for State Security and Intelligence has an excellent international network and takes consistent action against all forms of extremism,” Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said. “The mission is clear: zero tolerance for terrorists.”
Britain’s National Crime Agency confirmed on Thursday that the 39-year-old was arrested in central London on Monday by specialist officers from the NCA’s National Extradition Unit. He is being held in custody until his next appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.