It is official. The United States is openly calling for regime change in Venezuela.

Speaking at the United Nations Security Council, U.S. envoy Mike Waltz said Washington no longer views Venezuela as a conventional diplomatic dispute but as a criminal state aligned with drug cartels and hostile armed actors.

“The United States does not recognize Nicolás Maduro or his cronies as the legitimate government of Venezuela,” Waltz told the council. He said Nicolás Maduro was “a fugitive from American justice” who had “stolen the election” and turned the country into a platform for narcotics trafficking and military intimidation.

Waltz said the United States was acting under direct orders from President Donald Trump, who he said had instructed U.S. agencies to use “the full power of the United States” to dismantle drug cartels operating in the Western Hemisphere. He linked Venezuela’s leadership to those networks, accusing them of providing protection, logistics, and oil revenue to transnational criminal groups.

U.S. officials told the council that Venezuela has sharply expanded military cooperation with foreign adversaries, increased naval activity near key shipping lanes, and engaged in hostile actions against commercial vessels operating near its coast. They said the moves threatened global energy markets and U.S. strategic interests, given Venezuela’s vast oil reserves and proximity to critical maritime routes.

Russia and China strongly opposed the U.S. position, warning that calls for regime change violated international law and risked military escalation. Both accused Washington of using security claims as a pretext to seize control of Venezuelan energy assets. Iran, China and several non aligned states echoed those objections.

France and Britain stopped short of endorsing regime change but criticized Maduro’s government for election fraud, repression, and destabilizing behavior, urging increased international pressure rather than military action.

The United States said it would continue to tighten economic, diplomatic, and security measures until what it called an illegitimate regime is removed from power, marking one of Washington’s most explicit public endorsements of regime change in years.

A suspected Mossad operation has jolted Lebanon after a retired Lebanese security officer tied to the 1986 disappearance of Israeli airman Ron Arad vanished without a trace, thrusting one of Israel’s most haunting military cases back into the spotlight nearly 39 years later.

Lebanese security sources said Ahmad Shukr, a former officer in Lebanon’s General Security apparatus, disappeared about a week ago after being lured abroad. Investigators said multiple intelligence indicators pointed to Israel’s foreign intelligence service, Mossad, which has a long record of covert abductions linked to unresolved prisoner and missing soldier cases. Israel has declined to comment.

Shukr was linked to networks associated with Amal and Hezbollah, the Shiite factions involved in Arad’s capture after his aircraft went down over southern Lebanon. Lebanese officials said Shukr was believed to hold sensitive knowledge about what happened to Arad after he was taken alive, making him a high value intelligence target.

Arad, an Israeli Air Force navigator, was captured on October 16, 1986 after ejecting from a damaged fighter jet during a strike in Lebanon. His pilot was rescued. Arad was taken by Amal fighters and later vanished amid shifting custody between militias, leaving behind decades of conflicting accounts, failed negotiations, and intelligence dead ends. Israeli assessments have long suggested he likely died in captivity in the late 1980s or early 1990s, though Israel has never formally declared him dead.

Hezbollah reacted angrily, calling on Lebanese authorities to intensify security efforts to uncover what it described as a kidnapping. Hussein al Moussawi, a political adviser to Hezbollah’s secretary general, praised Shukr as an honorable officer and condemned what he called a criminal act. Saudi owned al Hadath reported that Shukr was targeted because of suspected links to the Arad file.

For Israel, the episode reinforces a deeply held doctrine. Successive governments have kept Arad’s case open, authorizing interrogations, overseas seizures, and high risk intelligence operations long after most nations would have closed the file. Israeli officials say the pursuit is intentional and unending.

The latest disappearance echoes earlier Mossad actions tied to the case, including the 2021 abduction of an Iranian general in Syria that failed to produce conclusive answers. The renewed activity has already heightened diplomatic tension between Israel and Lebanon.

Israeli officials say the absence of definitive proof keeps the case alive. The signal, they add, is unmistakable. Time does not end Israel’s search for its missing soldiers.

In a video that feels less like messaging and more like a warning shot, the IDF’s Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee delivers a dark theatrical farewell to Israel’s fallen enemies. Standing among AI generated tombstones, he stamps red Arabic labels reading “eliminated” across the faces of dead militant leaders, posing for mock selfies as if closing a ledger. The clip went viral not because it was subtle, but because it was deliberate. Israel was not whispering. It was reminding the region what its intelligence services have been doing since October 7, 2023.

Behind the satire is a ruthless scorecard. Over the past 2 years, Israel has systematically dismantled the senior leadership of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran’s IRGC, and the Houthis through drone strikes, air raids, special forces operations, and deep intelligence penetration. Command chains have been severed. Successors eliminated. Entire hierarchies hollowed out. The message is blunt. Time, borders, and rank do not confer protection.

Hamas has been hit hardest. Yahya Sinwar, the architect of October 7, was killed in a Rafah ground operation in October 2024 after months on the run underground. Ismail Haniyeh was struck in Tehran in July 2024 during a high profile Iranian event. Mohammed Deif, the elusive military commander, was killed weeks later in Khan Younis. Saleh al Arouri was eliminated in Beirut. Marwan Issa was buried in a tunnel. Senior brigade commanders, intelligence chiefs, and weapons engineers followed in rapid succession. By late 2024, Hamas’s senior command structure was effectively erased.

Hezbollah was next. Hassan Nasrallah was killed in September 2024 when Israeli jets collapsed a fortified Beirut bunker using real time intelligence. His top lieutenants died with him or shortly after. Radwan Force commanders were picked off in meetings, apartments, and vehicles. By mid 2025, Israel struck again, killing Hezbollah’s chief of staff in Beirut in what became the highest ranking elimination since the ceasefire, signaling that restraint had limits.

Iran’s IRGC leadership suffered its most severe losses in decades. A Damascus strike in April 2024 wiped out Iran’s Syria Lebanon command. In June 2025, Israel escalated dramatically, hitting Tehran itself. The IRGC commander in chief, the armed forces chief of staff, the missile force commander, and senior Quds Force leaders were all eliminated in coordinated strikes. It was the deepest Israeli penetration of Iran since 1979.

Even Yemen was not out of reach. Houthi intelligence and military leaders directing missile and drone attacks on shipping were killed in long range airstrikes. In September 2025, Israel wiped out much of the Houthi political leadership in a single strike in Sana’a, triggering panic and flight among remaining officials.

The Adraee video was not just poking fun…. It was bookkeeping. A public inventory of enemies who all assumed they were untouchable. Israel’s intelligence services have shown they can watch, wait, and strike years later with surgical precision.

The axis will try to regenerate. It always does. But Israel’s message is now explicit. No bunker is deep enough. No capital is safe. No clock runs out.