Executive Summary

Operation Absolute Resolve’s initial moments aimed to suppress the Venezuelan Armed Forces’ air-defence systems covering Caracas’ points of ingress and egress. Multiple early warning and aerial defence systems bought from Russia failed to detect and engage (due to a combination of electronic degradation and operational limitations) inbound United States airframes and were subsequently neutralised at the Higuerote Airport and the Mamo Plateau.

U.S. assets also suppressed aerial defence platforms in La Carlota Airbase and Fuerte Tiuna, while severely degrading the command and control capabilities of the Venezuelan Army and the Bolivarian Militia by destroying the main communications nodes and backup radio antennas in Caracas and Miranda.

HUMINT from ground teams and recruited sources also supported the kinetic strikes preceding the main raid by Delta Force and the Night Stalkers, and multiple reports suggest that the U.S. Intelligence Community confirmed the location of Nicolás Maduro through an asset inside Miraflores Palace.