The Pentagon confirmed on Tuesday that a swarm of drones flew over Langley Air Force Base for days in December 2023, but stressed that none of those devices was perceived as a threat.

Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh admitted at a press conference that there were “incursions” and that the number of drones that flew over those facilities located in the state of Virginia “fluctuated.”

“They didn’t seem to show a hostile intention. It’s something we’ve been attentive to,” he said.

The Pentagon confirms flights

The Wall Street Journal reported these flights this weekend and specified that they extended for 17 days and that they usually took place between 45 minutes and an hour after sunset.

The newspaper recalled that federal law prohibits the armed forces from neutralizing those devices near US bases if they do not pose an imminent threat. According to his report, US officers did not believe, however, that they were led by fans given the complexity of the operation.

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Missions were canceled

The newspaper added that Langley’s personnel canceled night training missions worried about possible collisions with the drones and that the F-22 fighters were moved to another base. The last appearance of these drones occurred on December 23.

The Pentagon deputy spokeswoman stressed that the commanders of any base have the authority to protect their forces and infrastructure, pointed out that such air raids in US territory require coordination with other agencies and said she did not know where these aircraft started.

The Government of Venezuela called this Tuesday a “pamphlet” the report of the Independent International Mission of the United Nations (UN), in which alleged crimes against humanity committed by the country’s authorities in the July 28 elections, in which Nicolás Maduro was proclaimed president re-elected, are denounced.

In a statement, Venezuela’s representation before the UN in Geneva “energetically rejected the pamphlet published by the shameful mission,” for being “a novel document” and “a fanciful script,” without responding to the remarks contained in the report.

“That mercenary mission has never set foot in Venezuela. However, it has wasted more than six million dollars on political propaganda in favor of the Venezuelan fascist right,” the letter says.

Venezuela also asserted that the mission uses a methodology and sources of information “widely questionable due to its lack of rigor,” since it takes “as certain stories of social networks and long-line media.”

Security forces in the protests in Venezuela

In a 158-page report covering the period from September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2024, the mission accuses security forces and pro-government armed civilian groups of murders, enforced disappearances, acts of torture and sexual and gender-based violence.

The security forces were “massively involved” in human rights violations, such as arbitrary detentions, excessive use of force to repress protests, or cruel and degrading treatment, the document indicates, pointing to the civil intelligence services (SEBIN) and military (DGCIM), as well as the Bolivarian National Guard and the National Police.

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He also assures that “the statements of the highest authorities of the State, especially after July 28, incited repression and contributed to generating a climate of hostility and violence.”

Once Maduro was announced as the winner, the majority opposition denounced fraud and assured that its standard bearer, Edmundo González Urrutia, won the Presidency, a claim that has the support of several countries.

The Israeli Army reported that in the early hours of Wednesday, 50 rockets were launched from Lebanese territory heading to northern Israel, something that was later attributed to the Shiite group Hezbulá.

According to the Israeli Army, the rockets were directed towards the Safed area, in the north of the territory, so minutes before alarms sounded to alert the population.

“Some of the projectiles were intercepted and projectiles were identified that fell in the area,” the Israeli authorities said on their Telegram channel.

So far, reports of victims in the area are unknown.

For its part, the Lebanese Shii group Hizbulá attributed the attack, indicating that it is retaliation for the Israeli invasion.

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“In support of our resistant Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, in support of their brave and honorable resistance, in defense of Lebanon (…), the fighters of the Islamic Resistance bombed the occupied city of Safed at 1:40 a.m. on Wednesday, October 16, 2024 with a large rave of rockets,” they indicated in the Telegram of the Islamic Resistance and that they also collected local media.

“Right to defend”

On Tuesday, the deputy secretary general of Hizbulla, Naim Qassem, said that the group can attack “any point” of Israel as part of its “right to defend itself”, after the Israelis launched a massive bombing campaign against Lebanon in late September.

Since Israel launched its ground offensive in southern Lebanon in the early hours of October 1, at least 14 Israeli soldiers have died in attacks around the northern border: 10 in combat in the south of the country, and another 4 in Israeli territory. 3 civilians have also died in Israel, in attacks by Hezbulah.

In Lebanon, more than 2,100 people have died and another 10,000 have been injured, most of them during the strong escalation of the past two weeks.