The Trump administration has decided to attack military bases inside Venezuela, according to a report, as America moves into a new phase in its war on drug cartels.

Naval and air bases are among the potential targets as they are suspected of being involved in the industrial supply of drugs by the infamous Tren de Aragua and Cartel de los Soles gangs.

The airstrikes could be launched within days — or even hours, sources told the Miami Herald.

Donald Trump denied the report on Friday. When asked whether he had green-lit an attack, the president replied simply ‘no’ while speaking to reporters on Air Force One.’

Those briefed on the plans warned that time is running out for the socialist tyrant Nicolas Maduro. The Venezuelan president is ‘trapped’ and at least one top general is ‘willing to capture and hand him over,’ a source told the Miami Herald.

Trump has deployed the largest US force to the Caribbean since the Cold War and ordered 13 strikes on drug smuggling boats since the start of September, killing at least 57 alleged gangsters. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the architect of the strategy, White House sources say, and he views Maduro’s regime as an existential threat.

‘You have a narco-state in Venezuela run by a cartel,’ Rubio told reporters last week. ‘This is an operation against narco-terrorists, the al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere … and they need to be dealt with.’

Trump has made fentanyl the headline target of his drugs crackdown. The synthetic opioid killed 70,000 Americans in 2023 and was involved in around 70 percent of all drug overdose deaths.

‘President Trump has been clear in his message to Maduro: stop sending drugs and criminals to our country,’ said White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly.

‘The president is prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our homeland.’

However, the vast majority of illegal fentanyl trade into the US originates or transits via Mexico — while the chemicals to produce the drug come from China. 

Venezuela has been a transit route for Colombian cocaine for decades, but only small quantities of the white powder reach US shores from the Caribbean, most of it arrives from Mexico and the Pacific.

Experts and critics argue that the operation is less about drugs, and more about pushing for regime change. 

Brandan Buck, a foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute, told Fox: ‘It is more likely that those strikes are part of this incremental effort to dislodge Maduro than merely an effort to wage war on the cartels.

‘Pacific and overland routes through Mexico are considerably more prolific, and Venezuela itself is a relatively minor player, especially when it comes to fentanyl.’

Trump’s motives for regime change in Venezuela are diverse and complex — among them its vast oil reserves, geographic proximity, and role as a regional ally to anti-American regimes. 

Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world and currently 85 percent of its exports go to China. 

Earlier this month, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez claimed that energy was the driving force behind America’s aggression.

‘For the past eight weeks, we have seen a military threat from the US government, which pursues a single fundamental goal: to seize Venezuela’s oil, gas and vast reserves,’ she said. ‘Any attack on the country with the world’s largest oil reserves would have serious consequences for the global energy landscape.’

Trump sparked alarm last week when he deployed the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, as part of the force, which includes 10,000 troops, multiple warships, nuclear submarines, F-35 fighter jets, MQ-9 Reaper drones, P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance planes, and B-52 bombers. 

Maduro also reacted with fury when a destroyer, the USS Gravely, was dispatched to Trinidad and Tobago to take part in naval drills. The island is just seven miles from Venezuela at its closest point.

Venezuela claimed that the CIA was working with Trinidad and Tobago to spark a broader conflict. Caracas also said it had captured a CIA-backed ‘group of mercenaries’ who were preparing a ‘false flag attack’.

Trump sent shockwaves across Capitol Hill last month when he informed Congress that the US is now engaged in a ‘non-international armed conflict.’

It allows the President to treat the cartel gangsters as ‘unlawful combatants’, meaning they can be killed or detained without a trial.

The strikes primarily target smugglers from Venezuela where Maduro is not recognized as legitimate president by Washington.

Maduro has been flooding the airwaves with propaganda that Trump is a bloodthirsty fascist who plans to invade and has mobilized tens of thousands of reservists for the onslaught he claims is coming.

Trump earlier this month warned Maduro that he better not ‘f*** around with America’ as he spoke to reporters at the White House. 

The administration also stated that it had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela, a highly unusual disclosure.

The drug boat strikes have alarmed Democratic lawmakers and legal scholars, who see Trump testing the limits of the law as he expands the scope of presidential power.

The White House has not detailed what evidence it has against the vessels or individuals, has not said what type of munitions or platforms were used in the strikes or even what quantity of drugs the vessels were allegedly carrying.

Some former military lawyers say the legal explanations given by the Trump administration for killing suspected drug traffickers at sea instead of apprehending them, fail to satisfy requirements under the law of war.

This requires several criteria to be met before taking lethal action — including first using non-lethal means like firing warning shots.

Legal experts have also questioned why the military is carrying out the strikes instead of the Coast Guard, which is the main maritime law enforcement agency.