US President Donald Trump said Thursday that operations to curb Venezuelan drug trafficking "by land" would begin "very soon." 

The warning comes amid escalating tensions with Caracas and with the military stepping up its activity in the Caribbean as part of what Washington says are efforts to stop transnational crime and drug smuggling.

Venezuela, however, says the military buildup and the US anti-narcotics campaign is really a covert effort to remove leftist leader Nicolas Maduro.

Washington views Maduro as an illegitimate ruler and accuses him of drug trafficking — allegations the Venezuelan president rejects.

What did Trump say about Venezuela?

In a video call to US service members from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida to mark Thanksgiving, Trump said the military campaign had meant there "aren't too many [Venezuelan drug traffickers] coming in by sea anymore."

"We've almost stopped — it's about 85% stopped by sea," Trump said.

"And we'll be starting to stop them by land also. The land is easier, but that's going to start very soon," he added.

Several of the military units Trump spoke with are directly involved in the anti-drug initiative, known as “Southern Spear.”

What do we know about the US anti-narcotics operations?

The US has struck a number of boats in international waters in the Caribbean and the Pacific it says were smuggling illegal narcotics into the country. It has not provided evidence to support the claims.

At least 83 people have been killed in those strikes, according to a count of publicly available figures by the AFP news agency.

The assembled US military firepower, which includes an aircraft carrier strike group, far outweighs anything needed for anti-drug smuggling operations.

Edited by Karl Sexton