What the United States targeted Venezuela: communications, depots and missile systems

While carrying out his mission to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife In a complex operation early Saturday, US forces attacked several locations in northern Venezuela.

Among the targets identified in an ABC News analysis were surface-to-air missile systems, communications antennas and at least two buildings that appeared to be warehouses. Noticeably absent from any sign of military action was the Miraflores Palace – Venezuela’s presidential palace – in central Caracas.

As part of the analysis, ABC News reviewed videos and images of the attacks, identified their locations and compared them to satellite images to determine both the target and apparent impact of the attacks.

The explosions in Venezuela were first reported around 2 a.m. local time on Saturday.

Along the Venezuelan coast of the Caribbean Sea, explosions were reported in the town of Higuerote and the port of La Guaira.

At least two explosions took place at an airport in the town of Higuerote, where video showed a surface-to-air missile system, along with a damaged plane and airport building.

ABC News Contributor Steve Ganyard retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel and former fighter pilot, identified it as a Russian-supplied BUK system. An analysis of a European Space Agency satellite image shows a crater at the end of a runway, matching the location of the destroyed BUK system in the video.

Video from the port of La Guaira showed a large explosion, followed by clouds of smoke, which occurred in the early hours of Saturday. It is still unclear what the goal was there.

Further inland, around the capital, Caracas, ABC News identified five targets that were attacked.

At least one Russian-supplied BUK missile system was attacked and destroyed at a major air base at La Carlota Air Base in Caracas.

In it In the southeast corner of the city, in El Volcán, buildings that were part of a communications complex located on the top of a mountain were impacted. Videos showed that some of the buildings were destroyed. It is unclear if the antennas are currently working.

General Dan Caine, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at a briefing Saturday morning that the U.S. mission to detain Maduro More than 150 aircraft participated, including fighter aircraft, bombers, surveillance aircraft, intelligence aircraft and helicopters.

The most concentrated attacks occurred around the large military complex of Fuerte Tiuna, where three different objectives were hit.

Satellite images from a satellite data company Vantor showed that at least four buildings, in three different locations, were destroyed.

An ABC News analysis of recent satellite images shows that one of the buildings attacked was being used to house large vehicles. The explosion in that building completely destroyed it and, at 11 a.m. local time on Saturday, there were still clouds of smoke, as seen in Vantor satellite images.

Two sets of buildings at either end of a remote road on the mountain ridge, leading to the Fuerte Tiuna complex, were also attacked early Saturday morning.

One of the buildings, located on the north side of the road, appears to be an entry point to the Fuerte Tiuna complex, which extends to the road, with a helicopter pad nearby; ABC News analysis of archive footage shows the road is closed to the public.

The other set of buildings, located on the southern section of the highway, also appeared destroyed, according to satellite images ABC News obtained from Vantor.

On the road, between the two now destroyed buildings, stands a large building on the ridge of the mountain overlooking the military complex. That building does not appear to have been attacked and has a partially covered driveway.